LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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Class i_Eb^5_ 
Book ,_C %HA 



MEMOIRS 



OF 



LUCRET1A CROCKER 



AND 



ABBY W. MAY 



PREPARED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION 

BY 

MRS. EDNAH DOW CHENEY 

AT THE REQUEST OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 



BOSTON 
1893 



LB W 



v5 



OEO. H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 141 FRANKLIN ST., BOSTON. 



KB 



LUCRETIA CROCKER 

Teacher 



how she became what she was ; but the records are scanty, 
and we must respect the shyness of affection, so that our 
record must be judged more by its good will than its ac- 
complishment. 

Lucretia Crocker was born in Barnstable, Mass., Dec. 
31, 1829. I have little information regarding her child- 
hood or girlish life. Her ancestors came early to this 
country, and settled in the old Commonwealth. All her 
influences and associations belonged to the New England 
type of life. 

We must imagine the little girl in her simple country 
home, trudging not "unwillingly to school," delighting in 
the solemn grandeur of the ocean, and loving and beloved 
in all her family relations. Who were the enviable 
teachers who helped to mould this mind so receptive and 
so active, I know not, until the time when she entered the 
Normal School. Her family had then removed to Shaw- 
mut Avenue in Boston, and she attended as a day scholar. 
If the adequate training given to this rare mind had been 
the only result of the Normal School System, it would 
have justified the enthusiastic expectations of its founders. 
But, if unequalled, she was not alone, but the centre of a 
group of noble and dear friends. 

The Normal School for Girls was established at Lex- 
ington in 1839, and Rev. Cyrus Peirce ^fliffectionately 



called "Father Peirce ") was selected as the first prin- 
cipal. It began its work under many difficulties, with 
only three pupils. 

Miss Crocker must have entered the school in 1847 or 
1848, as she graduated in 1850; and she thus came under 
the instruction of both Mr. Peirce and his successor, Mr. 
Stearns. In the spring of 185 1 Mr. Stearns was obliged 
to spend some time at the South for the benefit of his 
health, leaving the school under the care of his able assist- 
ants, Misses Pennell, Crocker, and Whittemore. 

Miss Crocker retained her position as instructor in this 
school until the year 1854. I shall select from the many 
tributes paid to her success in this work. 

A fellow-pupil writes: "We were classmates in the 
Normal School (then removed to West Newton) in the 
years of 1849 an< ^ 1850. I remember her as a slight, 
rather delicate-looking girl, whose quiet dignity was 
impressive, but not appalling. With her fine, well- 
balanced mind, she naturally took and held a high place 
in her class. In after years it was my privilege occasion- 
ally to meet her, and the memory of being classmates and 
Normalites was a tie of mutual interest and friendship. 
I wish I might write some words that would be a worthy 
tribute to the life of a noble woman." 

Another writes : "I recall only the general fact of her 
working very hard in her mathematics, the Calculus espe- 



cially. And I always thought her wonderful success in 
teaching it, was, that not only the subject, but the difficul- 
ties she encountered in understanding it, were so fresh 
in her mind. ... I know that in physical geography she 
read a great deal, and made out papers on the subject that 
were exceedingly interesting, that were used at each lesson, 
and copied by each member of the class." She used no 
text -book. " Everybody knew what a worker she was, and 
what a teacher, and what a tender, sweet, simple woman." 

Among the most feeling and eloquent tributes to Miss 
Crocker's memory was an address by her dear friend who 
succeeded her in the office of supervisor, Mrs. Hopkins. 
It was read at the New England Women's Club, and I am 
permitted to make some extracts from it : — 

"I first met Miss Crocker at the Normal School in West 
Newton, where she was one of a trio of gifted and lovely 
women whom I was so fortunate as to call my teachers. 
Nothing could be more exquisitely feminine than the per- 
sonal traits and demeanor which distinguished her. A 
tall and slender form, girlish in outline, with classic poise 
and contour of head and face ; she gave at once such an 
impression of gentleness and firmness, of strength and 
delicacy, of reserve and expression, of modesty and mas- 
tery as are rarely combined in mature life. Still more rare 
are such balance and repose resulting from such diverse 
activity seen in a maiden of hardly twenty summers. 



5 

These characteristics remained hers through life. With- 
out assumption, she was an incarnation of inborn leader- 
ship. With an ambition and determination for exact and 
thorough scholarship, with a conscientious devotion to 
whatever she accepted as duty, with a mind of wonderful 
order and symmetry and crystalline clearness of percep- 
tion, unequivocal in its decisions, with a native power of 
organizing and classifying, an instinct for imparting and 
directing, she made a perfect presiding officer and an 
invariably successful builder and head of complex organi- 
zations. Yet, in all this manifestation of qualities usu- 
ally regarded as masculine, her extreme development of 
the distinctively feminine was quite as marked, and pre- 
served her womanliness intact and supreme. . . . Indeed, 
it was the quiet womanly force operating in every direction 
of mental and moral activity, radical, permeating, and 
diffusive, which made her not only an oracle, but an 
inspiration to all who knew her. . . . There she stands 
in my memory, the 'Maiden Teacher,' with her fine 
reserve of posture, her simple and native dignity of 
manner, her fair and pure lines of form and face, the 
essence of delicacy and refinement and of quiet strength. 
. . . In recalling her history and trying to portray her 
image, I find myself ever retreating from the forms and 
activities of her life to its essence, so much more beautiful 
was she than all her work; yet I must go back to some 



of her marvellous work as a teacher. Geography, natural 
science, and mathematics were her specialties in the Nor- 
mal School while I was there. In geography she simply 
inspired us all. Her soft, clear voice, distinct and deli- 
cate utterance, made the finest truths articulate. The 
globe was her only text-book; and, as she stood beside it, 
her dainty fingers straying over its surface or pointing 
unerringly to the spot of which she spoke, she seemed to 
hold the round earth as a toy in her slender hands, reveal- 
ing all its mechanism, all its beauty, all its relations to 
the delighted group before her. She threw streams of 
light over its mountains, plains, and oceans, till it glowed 
in our minds with undying suggestiveness and ever-widen- 
ing vistas of future study. I have again and again said to 
myself, as one or another of her pupils has since those 
days dealt with the subject, with the conspicuous approval 
of the public, 'That is Miss Crocker's teaching blooming 
out through other minds.' I do not think I shall be 
gainsaid when I refer to Miss Hall's well-known Geogra- 
phies, which Miss Crocker herself conducted through the 
press, or Miss Andrews's lovely introductions to this 
study, which are now read by all our children. 

"In zoology I shall never forget her clear-cut analysis, 
her inclusive grouping, her adherence to the supremacy of 
type; and, when in that department Agassiz came before 
us to open wide the gates and shed the lustre of his genius 



and his love upon the realms of living form, we know he 
found our teacher a true priestess in the temple of Nature, 
and revered and admired her. But, above all other 
wonders of her skill, was the wonder of her teaching in 
the higher mathematics. Is it possible she was but a 
girl? See the school-room walls lined with classes at 
work on the blackboard, while she stood without sign of 
book or any prompting except of her own sure brain, and 
ran the sweet gamut of her clear tones through problem 
after problem in plane or spherical trigonometry, assigning 
with lightning rapidity, and as easily as the bird sings his 
call, the difficult task to one after another of the respon- 
sive and expectant line. Then how quick was she to note 
the error, and, without waste of time or words to call 
attention to it, just so as would clear it up directly to the 
mind of the worker. Her skill, facility, and crystalline 
clearness in mathematics were extraordinary. Her hold 
upon the class was thoroughly magnetic, and the brains 
before her were moved by her as the electric wires by the 
battery. ... It was after such a masterpiece of her work 
at a public examination that one of the first educators 
expressed his admiration, saying that 4 she could fill the 
Chair of Mathematics in any university with distinguished 
ability.'" 

This occasion was long remembered by those who were 
present. 



"So it came to pass that, after leaving the impress of 
her unusual gifts and attainments upon the pupils of the 
Normal School, she was called to occupy the Chair of 
Mathematics in Antioch College." 

At the end of her four years' teaching at the Normal 
School, Miss Crocker remained for some time with her 
family at home, where she was the light and joy of her 
parents and sister until she went to Antioch College, at 
the earnest request of Horace Mann.* 

While she was quiet in her manners, and perhaps even 
conservative in her tastes, she was very broad and liberal 
in her views; and this underlying freedom took from her 
everything of restraint or stiffness. She met every one 
so simply that they felt no fear of her. The child of 
thirteen felt rather comradeship and affection than awe; 
and yet dignity was a word truly belonging to her, and one 
could hardly conceive of even a school-girl being imperti- 
nent to her. 

Miss Crocker was progressive in her educational views, 
and she had very much at heart the promotion of scientific 
study in the schools. She valued it not alone as an ac- 
quisition of useful knowledge, but as a valuable means of 
mental culture. 

Her own taste was rather scientific than literary. She 
was an associate member of the Association for the 
Advancement of Science in 1876, and became a corporate 

* See page 20. 

f 



9 

member in 1885. As science had been considered as 
rather out of the range of women's intellect, her influence 
in this direction was of great value to the general cause of 
women's advancement, as well as to the schools. 

The tribute paid to her work by Professor Hyatt shows 
how she was regarded by true scientists: — 



ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
SCIENCE. 

General Meeting, Oct. 20, 1886. 

The Chair announced the death of Miss Lucretia 
Crocker, elected an Associate Member in 1876 and a 
Corporate Member in 1885. 

Professor Hyatt said : — 

"Mr. President, — The lady to whose death you have 
called the attention of the Society had become, through 
association in educational work, my intimate professional 
friend. During the past ten years she has been one of the 
persons to whom I have looked for advice and aid in our 
educational work, so far as it related to the public schools 
and to our Museum in some of its connections. During 
all this time she has never refused her assistance, and has 
repeatedly volunteered in doing onerous tasks for our 
benefit. I therefore offer these brief remarks, not only 



IO 

in my official capacity, but also with a deep sense of the 
personal loss of a true friend and tireless associate. 

"Miss Lucretia Crocker, in the course of a few brief 
years of public life, won her way to the respectful consid- 
eration of every man with whom she came in contact, on 
account of the purely impersonal and professional sound- 
ness of her mind and judgment. Among women, these 
qualities, her sympathy with all good works, her personal 
sacrifices in the cause of education, and her unswerving 
devotion to this work made her a leader of commanding 
ability. Her course in connection with this Society has 
shown the same consistent devotion to a cause as else- 
where. She has perpetually sought to fill her proper 
sphere, quietly and without publicity, indifferent to 
the fate of her own name, provided certain aims were 
accomplished and a definable progress in education at- 
tained. 

"Miss Crocker never gave a scientific communication, 
was rarely present at the meetings of this Society, and 
therefore remained comparatively unknown to a certain 
portion of our members. Nevertheless, she belonged 
beyond question to that small class of persons whose 
memory we shall always especially honor. 

"During her ten years of membership, and for several 
years previous to her election, she was a frequent visitor 
in this building; and the Society's power of doing useful 



II 

work was sensibly enlarged by her efforts during this time. 
Immediately after election to the Board of Education of 
this city, she took up the natural sciences, believing that 
through them much might be done for the reformation of 
the existing systems of education. She became first a 
pupil and then an earnest friend and indefatigable co- 
worker in the Teachers' School of Science. The continu- 
ance of this school, in 1878-79 was due to her unsolicited 
intercession with Mrs. Hemenway and Mrs. Shaw, from 
whom she obtained the funds to pay for the lessons given 
during that winter. The school might have temporarily 
ceased to exist but for the united and voluntary exertions 
of Miss Crocker and Mrs. Hooper. They solicited sub- 
scriptions from the ladies of Boston, and worked with such 
success that one of our most efficient years was perhaps the 
winter of 1880-81. 

"Miss Crocker's connection with this department was 
not confined, however, to the simple office of obtaining 
means to keep it alive. As supervisor in the public 
schools of Boston, she became well acquainted with the 
needs of teachers, and used her influence to urge them on 
to the attainment of a higher culture in natural history. 
She also used her knowledge to make frequent suggestions 
with regard to the selections of subjects for the courses, 
and these were almost invariably such as we could approve 
and follow with advantage. During the last fourteen 



12 

years she was present every Saturday afternoon, almost 
without fail, and, when needful, spent the greater part of 
the day in our lecture-rooms. It therefore goes without 
saying that she looked upon this as a very important part 
of her work in the public schools; and, unfortunately, it 
is also easy to perceive that her death may sensibly affect 
the immediate prosperity and future usefulness of this 
department.* 

" These facts, however, do not by any means represent 
the value of Miss Crocker's life to the Society, nor the loss 
it has suffered in her death. She was also deeply inter- 
ested in the progress of the Museum, and had fully entered 
into its plan of work. Her power and influence were very 
large. She had gained the confidence of many persons, 
and was well known to the public; and she had promised 
to place herself at the service of this deparment whenever 
the proper time should arrive. 

"I do not feel qualified to speak with regard to the work 
of Miss Crocker in the public schools; but one thing 
seemed very evident, even to me, that it was certainly due 
to her more than to any other person that natural history 
has been granted a place in the curriculum." 

With regard to another chapter of her work in the 

♦These fears have been fully realized. Since Miss Crocker's death there has been no 
advance in the teaching of natural history in the public schools. Her decease marked the cessa- 
tion of the movement in this direction, and since then all progress has been confined to individ- 
uals and to single schools. — Hyatt. 



13 

public schools, Mrs. Richards has, at my request, written 
a short communication : — 

"Miss Crocker, while not a specialist, had the rare 
quality of mind which permitted a wide acquaintance with 
various branches of elementary science and a judicial bal- 
ancing of the claims of each. It was this faculty which 
made her so well qualified to suggest to specialists appro- 
priate ways of teaching science from the educational stand- 
point, and not from the technical or professional one. 

"Her judgment as to the essential points in any science 
which could be made of value to children and youth as 
a part of their education was almost unerring. Her influ- 
ence in this direction can never be fully known, but we 
may select a few instances. She was the first organizer, 
in 1872 or 1873, of the science department of the 'Society 
to encourage Studies at Home.' She was a member 
of the Woman's Educational Association, and, although 
rarely present at its meetings, was really foremost in 
all movements pertaining to scientific education for 
women. We never did anything in opposition to Miss 
Crocker's judgment, and her approval was sufficient to 
insure the success of whatever we undertook. 

"Of her own especial work among the teachers and in 
the schools, one instance will suffice to show her scientific 
method. Miss Crocker, in the year 1881-82, asked me to 
join with her in giving a series of 'First Lessons on 



14 

Minerals ' for the use of the public schools. For two 
years we met at the appointed hour, and together gave the 
lessons, some one hundred and twenty-five in all, in twelve 
schools. Miss Crocker was not only critical and sugges- 
tive in our discussion of the lesson, but, while she wrote 
on the board the children's answers to my questions, she 
supplemented and modified my work in a marked degree, 
thus bringing into the course all the experience which she 
had gained. It was this practical quality in the instruc- 
tion which made the lessons so successful as models of 
elementary scientific teaching. Nevertheless, she refused 
all credit for the work done. From many quarters she 
gathered ideas on special topics, selecting and combining 
whatever could be made of use into a harmonious whole 
for the use of the public schools. 

"I think I may truthfully say that no educational work 
of public importance has been undertaken in Boston since 
1 87 1, without Miss Crocker's interest and counsel. 

"We have lost not only a friend, but an inspiration." 

Perhaps her earliest appreciation of the value of science 
was due to the influence of Agassiz. He saw her unusual 
capacity, and it was by his wish that she took charge of 
the Department of Science in the "Studies at Home." 

She could hardly be called a scientist, for she had never 
been able to devote herself to any specialty sufficiently 
to carry it to the point of original research; but her 



15 

admirable method told to the greatest advantage. A letter 
from one who knew her mainly in this connection will 
abundantly illustrate this point: — 



"She was the one first in charge of the 'Science Section ' 
of Miss Ticknor's 'Study at Home' Before I knew her 
I used to see Miss Crocker at the Women's Education meet- 
ings, and had the greatest admiration for her persuasive, 
gentle words and her clear, sensible head. How skilfully 
could she reconcile opposing parties, and pour oil on very 
troubled waves! 

"In the Science Club, of which she was an honorary 
member from the first, I learned one very marked trait in 
her character. She inspired and aroused others to their 
best work, understanding the points of each and every 
case, and how to overcome any obstacle that puzzled or 
perplexed. 

"To illustrate one little case of many: — 

"Miss Arms and Miss Stone collected clay stones, in 
which they were much interested. The variety in form 
puzzled them; for they were discs, circles, ovals, double 
discs, and irregular in various fashion. Miss Crocker 
said, 'Now, in collecting, keep the clay stones of each 
bank by themselves.' Doing this, they found that each 
bed or bank produced stones of a form peculiar to itself, 
all round or all oval, and so on. Then, by a chemical 



i6 

analysis of the clay stone (suggested by her), and of the 
surrounding clay of the bed compared, they found the large 
percentage of lime in the stone, some forty per cent, com- 
pared with the two or three per cent, in the imbedding 
clay, and wrote a most interesting and valuable paper, 
full of original observation on a subject very little known, 
or, I should say, understood. Now, Miss Crocker, not so 
versed in either geology or chemistry as these two others, 
could help them, when they were at a standstill, and so 
direct their work that it was a success. 

" I do not know how far she ever carried any science ; 
but she possessed the true scientific mind, the acumen and 
foresight that would have enabled her to take high rank, 
had she devoted herself to it in any branch. 

"So much the greater her wonderful unselfishness in 
aiding others, and her generosity, even paying from her 
own purse, when she felt a case urgent and deserving, and 
did not like to ask more from the generous friends who 
gave to the school at Annisquam. 

"So the scholarships founded at the Laboratory at 

Woods Holl were but a continuation of what she had done 

at Annisquam. Friends gave to her for the aid of students 

there; but she herself gave constantly (as came to my 

knowledge), and said nothing of it. But better than 

money was her wise counsel to all who sought it. 

"Very sincerely yours, 

"S. Minns. 
"Louisburg Square." 



17 

In connection with Mrs. Richards, she gave a course 
of lessons on "Mineralogy" in the public schools; and, 
while her scientific attainments were decidedly inferior to 
those of her coworker, Mrs. Richards says that she would 
often turn to the blackboard, and by a few words and 
strokes clear up a difficulty in the minds of the pupils 
much better than she could in many words. 

She had a hard struggle to introduce this improvement 
where it was not at first welcomed, but her admirable tact 
prevailed over obstacles. She was very steadfast, but not 
aggressive in her nature. "She worked on the lines of 
least resistance." If she found the teacher of a school 
much opposed to her plans, she did not press them with 
authority, but bided her time until he was ready to work 
with her. 

Her rare power in teaching came from her own intellect- 
ual clearness, so that she had full possession of her sub- 
ject, and had no gaps to cover up, and also from her 
remarkable powers of intuition, by which she saw the 
difficulties in her pupils' minds, and was able to meet 
them directly. Her absence of egotism prevented her 
from ever thinking of anything but the benefit of her 
pupils. She was an honorary member of a small club of 
younger women formed for their improvement in scientific 
studies. 



i8 

My own personal acquaintance with Miss Crocker began 
when she was chosen on the Committee on Teachers of 
the Freedman's Society in 1866. She brought a most 
important element of strength and life into the work. I 
do not know that I can better represent it than by repro- 
ducing a paper written soon after her death for a memorial 
service held in her honor by the School Suffrage Asso- 
ciation of Ward 23, on Nov. 18, 1886, of which the Secre- 
tary gives the following record: — 



MEMORIAL MEETING FOR OUR LATE HONORARY 
MEMBER, MISS LUCRETIA CROCKER. 

Nov. 18, 18S6. 

Mrs. Cheney opened the meeting with a brief account 
of the early home life of Miss Crocker, and read a letter 
from a pupil about her earlier days of teaching. Mrs. Chan- 
ning read a valuable paper from Mrs. Fisher, a more 
advanced pupil, and Mrs. Horace Mann's account of her 
connection with her husband at Antioch College. Rev. 
Mr. De Normandie described her first appearance there as 
teacher of mathematics, he being a pupil at Antioch at 
that time, where commenced an intimacy which continued 
through her life. His remarks were pervaded with great 
earnestness and feeling. 



19 

Mr. George Mann followed, and expressed an equal 
share of affection and admiration. He said much of her 
relations with teachers and pupils and her sympathetic 
criticisms. Mrs. Cheney presented an interesting account 
of her connection with herself in the freedman's work. 
Then Miss Lucia Peabody, in a long and eloquent address, 
gave some history of the Board of Supervisors, their hard 
work, and the great improvements they had introduced in 
the public schools, and the large share Miss Crocker had 
therein. Mr. Tetlow, master of the Girls' High and 
Latin Schools, made a very impressive address, dwelling 
upon her introduction of science in the schools, and her 
many unobtrusive suggestions to both teachers and pupils. 
Mr. Peterson (supervisor) sent the memorial paper of the 
Board of Supervisors a feeling and appreciative tribute to 
the memory of Miss Crocker. 

Mrs. Ellen Richards was the last speaker. She had 
been for years a colaborer with her in the field of science 
and observation of nature. 

F. E. Dwight, 

Secretary. 



20 
AT ANTIOCH. 

BY REV. JAMES DE NORMANDIE. 

My acquaintance with Miss Crocker began when she 
took charge of the chair of mathematics at Antioch Col- 
lege. That institution had been dedicated with great 
promise; and because it was an institution of the highest 
order, offering its privileges to both sexes, and had secured 
for its first president Horace Mann, — then easily the fore- 
most educator in New England, — it attracted at once a 
most earnest and gifted set of young men and women from 
all parts of the country. When one recalls that in the 
opening terms were such students as Miss Jane Andrews, 
Miss Helen Morton, and Miss Adeline Shepard, he can 
realize not only the promise of the school, but what a 
place there was for some institution of a high order for 
young women. 

But the sect which had the founding and care of the col- 
lege not only had no scholars fitted to carry on such an 
institution, it did not even know what education meant; 
and, when it found that Horace Mann was determined to 
have a college of a high order, it hedged his way with 
every difficulty besides the financial troubles which beset 
the institution from the first. The professor of Greek did 
not know the Greek alphabet when he was appointed, had 



21 

hardly finished the Greek Reader when he assumed his 
professor's chair, and never attained to as great a profi- 
ciency in the language as might fairly be expected from 
the average graduate of a good high school. I was once 
sent by my class to complain to the president of the utter 
inefficiency of the Greek teacher. Mr. Mann regarded 
such a petition as an interference with the management of 
the college which could hardly be considered. Neverthe- 
less, soon after he came into the recitation-room, when we 
took a malicious interest in showing off the ignorance of 
the professor. 

The professor of mathematics, a man of fierce appear- 
ance and pompous bearing and dignified silence, was not 
greatly superior to the professor of Greek. If any explana- 
tion was asked him of a problem, when hard pressed, he 
escaped in the common phrase, "A little more time and a 
little more careful examination will doubtless enable you 
to see how this is." 

It is easy to see how superior to all these surroundings 
Miss Crocker was, with her remarkable gifts and careful 
'craining. 

I remember perfectly the morning we were assembled in 
the room of mathematics, awaiting our new teacher; for we 
[shared the surprise of those days in hearing that a woman 
Was to have the higher mathematics. I recall the hush of 
Admiration which fell upon the room when Miss Crocker 



22 

came in, with her quiet, gracious, dignified presence, with 
her fine countenance of culture and intelligence, — a rare 
modesty mingled with a perfect composure and self-posses- 
sion. The first recitation was not over before every one 
felt sure that here was a teacher altogether better equipped 
than any we had had. It so happened that in the two upper 
classes were a few students much older than usually found, 
in college, and remarkable for their mathematical taste and 
gift, to whom the abstruser problems of that science (for 
which comparatively a very small number has any rea> 
interest) were easy and a delight; and, as one after another 
of these confessed Miss Crocker's rare attainments and. 
faculty of explanation, the early hospitality deepened into 
profound respect and admiration. Most exacting in her 
demands upon herself, she was acknowledged as easih . 
superior by the strongest men-pupils and those whose par 
tiality was altogether for mathematics. 

It is interesting to note that the two teachers at Antioch 
in its earlier days most fully equipped and giving the mosl 
entire satisfaction were women. 

One day, during Horace Mann's last illness, he said tc 
me, " I wonder if the students at Antioch appreciate then 
privilege in having such a teacher as Miss Crocker"; and| 
then he went on to speak of her gentle and dignified pres-l 
ence, of her remarkable qualifications, of her intense* 
application, which even then threatened to impair hei. 



23 

strong constitution, of her sympathy and helpfulness for 
those who were toiling along without the mathematical 
gift, and how, at whatever expense of time or strength to 
herself, she would be patient with them, and give them any 
number of hours of outside assistance and encouragement. 
We saw in these early years of her teaching the same 
traits which in later years gave her such success as one of 
the supervisors of the Boston schools; and it was remark- 
able even then what a rare faculty she had of attracting the 
young women students, who went to her in perfect confi- 
dence, not only in their educational, but in every trouble. 
"And this," Robertson says, "women are not likely to do." 

Of course, it was not possible for Antioch College, with 
all the financial straits which fell upon it, to retain after 
the death of Horace Mann teachers of such gifts, or to hold 
the promise it had given; and Miss Crocker returned to 
her home. 

Beautiful it was for those who had the privilege to see 
her taking up one public duty after another, and yet carry- 
ing on with such an ideal grace the quiet duties of the 
home which fell to her as infirmities gathered upon her 
parents, whose love and pride followed every step. With 
these duties nothing interfered; and no toil nor sacrifice 
lor watching was too great. Some of us who knew the 
strain upon her, both from official duties and home claims, 
ooked with intense anxiety lest the over-weighted life 



24 

should give way; and the wonder is that all was borne so 
long. She could not deny herself to her friends, though 
long into the morning hours the drudgery of her work must 
go on; for, incredible as it may seem, there were those who 
had opposed her election and claimed that a woman could 
never be suitable for a supervisor, who, to prove their 
claim, would gladly have broken her down by putting addi- 
tional and routine work upon her, — the one most fitted by 
every gift for all the highest and finest posts of the office. 
Every year made her position more secure ; and I cannot 
but believe that, as year after year great complaints were 
made against the Board, and threatenings to discontinue 
it, its permanency has been largely owing to her tact and 
ability and good work. The character she imparted to it 
did much, if not more than all others together, to make the 
public feel it was a necessity in the educational system of 
Boston. Her thoroughly womanly work, so energetic and 
strong, so wise, so sensitively conscientious, steadily wont 
converts to her side, until she disarmed criticism and, 
opposition. It may be said without any exaggeration that 
no one, man or woman, has held the office of supervisor of 
schools since who has done finer work. Her gentle dig-, 
nity, her firmness, her keen insight, her endurance, her 
executive ability, her ready sympathy, her literary taste^ 
her intellectual power, soon made her the real head o|e 
the Board. f 



25 

Her religious nature was her crowning gift. Profoundly 
radical, in the best sense of the word; using her strong 
reason upon all the serious questions which twenty-five 
years ago were thrown upon the theological world, — she 
could ill bear anything which seemed to attack the senti- 
ment of reverence and worship. One time a young min- 
ister read to her, one Saturday evening, a sermon he 
intended to preach the next morning in her church, upon 
"Religion a Science," — a phrase then hardly ever used, 
although one which has since been made familiar; but she 
did not quite approve of it, for she thought it would be mis- 
understood, and that it would fall harshly upon the ears of 
the worshippers. 

James Freeman Clarke once said that, if he were to 
name two of the most remarkable women of New England, 
he should say Margaret Fuller and Lucretia Crocker. 
There are those who were privileged to be her dear friends 
who would not hesitate to say that, counting all gifts 
and performances, and knowing the deepest life, Miss 
Crocker should be named first. She was one of those 

initrong, noble, pure, beautiful natures sent into the world 

sctom time to time, — true messengers of the Eternal, — to 

nohow us unto what human nature can attain. 

SI 



as 



26 



WORK AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 

A very interesting and important part of Miss Crocker's 
life was the work which she did for the Southern freedmen 
during eight or nine years, from 1866 to 1875. 

I do not know that she had any active participation in 
the anti-slavery movement. She was so closely engaged 
in study and teaching during the exciting years before the 
war that she took little part in public affairs; yet her 
intimate association with Horace Mann and other strong 
opponents of slavery must have led her to think seriously 
of the subject. One of her most intimate friends was 
a young woman from Tennessee. She thus had good 
opportunity to judge fairly of the institution and of the 
race involved in it. 

At any rate, she entered most heartily into the work of 
educating the freedmen; and her peculiar powers of mind 
and character and the admirable training she had received 
gave her at once a special value. 

The rare union of tender feeling with calm judgment 
and clear foresight was apparent in her plans for th&"' 
schools. In the first enthusiasm of emancipation the r o 
teachers had welcomed young and old to the school-house ~ s_ 
and the child hardly able to totter and the old man ancP^ 
woman too feeble to walk sat side by side, eager for the ? 



27 

new draught of learning for the first time offered to their 
thirsting lips. 

Miss Crocker was not alone in seeing the needed change 
in modes of teaching; and, indeed, the action of the 
Teachers' Committee was so perfectly harmonious that it is 
difficult to separate the work of any one from that of the 
others. But, in looking back, I do see that her influence 
was always in the direction of clearer method, of building 
up a system of education that would afford a permanent 
foundation for future work, and for placing our power 
where it would tell to the best advantage. It was delight- 
ful to see the old man of seventy at last grasping the 
alphabet as a solemn spell to unlock his mental powers, 
though it was too late for him really to acquire education 
or give it to others; but the strong, active, intelligent 
boys and girls, knowing enough of slavery to be profoundly 
grateful for emancipation, not yet paralyzed by its influ- 
ence, but stimulated by their newly acquired freedom, 
were the class to whom she looked as the future leaders 
and teachers of their race, and she constantly advocated 
the careful grading of the schools, the limited number of 
scholars, and the selection of those best fitted to form a 
normal class, to be carefully trained as the future teachers. 
She always looked forward to a true public school system 
to be sustained by the people of the South, and as much 
as possible by the colored people themselves, not to a 



28 

charity which should keep them always dependent upon 
others. 

She never betrayed any remnants of race prejudice or 
any distrust of the Negro's power to rise to the full stature 
of a man. She felt a peculiar value in this labor among 
the freedmen, not only for the great opportunities opened to 
them, but for the new experience it offered in education, 
since each teacher was thrown mainly upon her own 
resources, and could develop her own plans with little 
obstruction from others, unless the Ku-klux burned her 
school-house or drove her out of town. She always recog- 
nized the peculiar value of individual teachers, whether 
it was the almost military discipline of Mr. Shrewsbury, 
whose scholars presented books as a soldier does arms, or 
the freedom in the school of Miss Gardner, who by her 
inspiring influence brought out the minds of her pupils, 
and evolved admirable results out of what seemed a little^ 
like chaos. She recognized the value of both persons and. 
methods, while she tried to draw the attention of eacK 
teacher to the points in which she was deficient. Shf i 
entered into very close relations with the teachers. HjN 
judgment was excellent in selecting them; and thie> <& 6 s 
always felt great support from her sympathy, not only e r ° 
their personal trials, but in every detail of their work. f?*~ 

At the teachers' festival held each year in the vacatkon 
season her voice was perhaps never heard from the plitat- 



2 9 

form; but she was seen quietly gliding among the 
teachers, grasping their hands, looking into their faces 
with her peculiarly earnest, sympathetic gaze, hearing 
their stories, giving counsel and encouragement, and 
gently insinuating anything which might be needed of 
warning or rebuke. She was never more happy than 
among teachers. 

It is difficult, as I have said, to separate her work from 
that of others; but one occasion was essentially hers. 
She valued so highly the experience gained by the teachers 
in their isolated work that she desired to bring out its 
results in such a form that they would benefit all others. 
The committee therefore invited all the teachers to meet 
for discussion, and she prepared a list of questions to be 
considered. These were previously sent to all teachers, 
and those who could not be present were asked to forward 
written answers. Her questions show the same regard 
for broad, liberal development of thought and for true 
moral discipline as does all her later work. I will only 
mention a few: — 

,4 i. Means to secure good discipline, and create a high 
moral tone in the school. 

f*2. Methods of exciting enthusiasm for study and 
teaching pupils to think, 

,w 5. How often should the mental tension and physical 
weariness of pupils be relieved, and in what way? 



3Q 

"16. What does the study of geography include, besides 
a brilliant recitation of map questions?" 

Geography was always a favorite study, and she believed 
in making it a very comprehensive one. She entered fully 
into the labors of her friend Miss Hall in preparing "Our 
World," which has become so popular; and she prepared 
a book on the subject herself. I think she accepted and 
carried out the definition of geography as given at this 
meeting by the teachers at Florence, S.C. : "Geography 
includes the study of the different races of men, the nature 
and design of governments, a general knowledge of the 
form of the earth and the effects of climate." 

"It also inspires sympathy with other nations, and 
enables us to look out upon the face of Nature with a 
clearer eye and ponder over the wisdom and power of 
God." 

The twenty-second and last question is full of Miss 
Crocker's own life and spirit: — 

"Has the teacher, as teacher, a right to disregard physi- 
cal or mental laws? If not, why?" 

She reports the general opinion that a teacher earner* j l 
fulfil her duty to pupils unless the laws that regul^ ate 
health of body and mind are carefully observed, andk:* n 
this she heartily concurred. \ 

While Miss Crocker worked to the full extent of J^er 
physical powers, she was not reckless of her health, i 3ut 



\ 



3i 

guarded it conscientiously. She respected the body as the 
instrument of the mind. 

With this deep interest in the schools and their 
teachers, she longed for the opportunity actually to wit- 
ness their work; and in the spring of 1869 the society 
decided that they could not employ money to better pur- 
pose than in sending her down to inspect the schools. I 
had the inestimable privilege of accompanying her; and 
I wish I could give any adequate idea of this wonderful 
journey, the most important and interesting of my life. 
Three days on the ocean, which was smoothed for her into 
the placid calm of a summer lake, was a welcome interval 
of rest; and from the deep snows of March at home we 
came at once into the blooming roses of Savannah. She 
went from city to city and school to school, carrying 
strength and wisdom and tender sympathy alike to the 
teachers and the people. I may almost say that she had 
not an hour of rest except in sleep; for at meal-times and 
in every interval between the schools the teachers brought 
their difficulties and troubles to her, and she had to arbi- 
trate quarrels, as well as arrange programmes and decide 
upon methods. Naturally delicate and fastidious in her 
r^jrsonal tastes and habits, she had to encounter many 
h))ngs distasteful to her; but she drank the much-prized 
''o^-ir buttermilk without wincing, and smoothed her knife 
if- er her bread when her host commended the splendid 



32 

New York butter brought down last fall, and which had 
not quite come to "spooning." 

When Sunday came, we would hope for a little rest, and 
a ride or walk into the country, but were usually greeted 
on our arrival at a town with the announcement that a 
Sunday-school concert or some special meeting was 
arranged at which we were expected to speak. Putting 
off the shyness which was so characteristic of her, she 
would speak to the people her words of sympathy and 
encouragement and of her own simple religious feeling in 
a way that went to every heart, and then would bear the 
inevitable general hand-shaking with the courage of a 
political candidate. Besides her warm interest in the work 
and the delight she had in her personal relation to the 
teachers, she was helped by her great love of nature, which 
found rich satisfaction in the beautiful flowers of the 
South, — the Cherokee rose, the jasmine, the magnolia, and 
in the weird Southern moss hanging from the live-oaks, 
then in their loveliest spring verdure. A delicate sense 
of humor also made a diversion from the duties of the day; 
and we had many a good-natured laugh in our own rooms 
over our experiences, as when, at the prayer-meeting, the 
Negroes prayed for "a very particular blessing on de com- 
mittee who had crossed de seas to come to us, and mig : 
dey be safely returned to their speckly 'bode and habiP er 
tion," or when one of the multitude who followed us to p ut 



33 

station shouted after the somewhat pompous bureau officer 
who accompanied us: "Good-by, brother! Keep the bel- 
lows blowing! " 

The graceful, willowy figure, fair complexion, and ex- 
quisite refinement of manner formed a charming contrast 
with the rich bronzes around her, and the exuberant natural 
life flowing out in the crowds that often followed her 
steps; and I wish I had the skill of an Eastman Johnson 
to paint for you scenes which linger in my memory. On 
one occasion we had been rudely dismissed from a board- 
ing-house on account of social civilities to our colored 
teachers. They learned the fact from the bureau officer, 
and their indignation was unbounded; and, when we went 
from the school to the station, the whole school popula- 
tion, including fathers and mothers, uncles, aunts, sisters, 
and cousins, followed us to the station, purposely choosing 
the way through the principal streets. Uncongenial as 
such a display was to her feelings, I can see the pleasant 
smile and the graceful step with which she passed on at 
the head of the procession, in conversation with the 
teacher, apparently as much at ease and unconcerned as 
if passing through a quiet street in Boston. 

Far more beautiful she looked on another occasion. 
Miss Smith, a teacher at Sumter, N.C., had among her 
pupils old Scipio, a blind minister, who had preached to 
the people for many years, without being able to read 



34 

a word. She had procured some raised printing and an 
alphabet, and taught him his letters; and then, through 
the kindness of Dr. Howe, the Bible in raised characters 
was sent to him. Imagine the delight of the old man 
when this book, to him the very word of God, was opened! 
He had known it only by hearing it from others. 

Miss Smith asked him to read to Miss Crocker; and the 
old man began laboriously spelling out the first verses of 
Luke, stumbling over "O most excellent Theophilus " 
with little comprehension of its meaning. The fair head 
was bent over the book with that of the old gray Negro, 
and she patiently followed his careful spelling of the long 
words. Then she began to explain to him, telling him 
how Luke was writing to a friend Theophilus, how he 
himself had followed and known Jesus, and how he now 
wished to record all the blessed truths he had learned from 
him. To the old man it was like the lighting up of the 
sky at sunrise. His face shone with intelligence, his eyes 
glistened, and he could not express to her the joy and 
gratitude he felt at the unsealing of the book. He fol- 
lowed with the crowd who implored blessings upon her as 
she took her way to the station. He had sent this mes- 
sage to the lady who had sent him the alphabet: "Tell the 
blessed lady that, if I never meet her on earth, I trust I'll 
meet her in heaven; and I'll tell the good Lord that here 
is the lady that helped me learn to read." Many such 



35 

witnesses will meet her in that court where service to 
God's ignorant children is the title to honor. 

One more picture is too characteristic to be omitted. 
At Newbern, N.C., we went to visit a school belong- 
ing to the Unitarian Association. We had not had 
our usual cordial welcome by the teachers, and went 
through a severe rain-storm to the school, somewhat 
depressed in spirits. On arriving there, we found the 
cause of the seeming neglect. The principal of the school 
had suddenly married and gone away, and our letters 
addressed to her had been forwarded. The assistant 
teacher was entirely discouraged by the responsibility 
thus suddenly thrust upon her, and could neither manage 
nor teach the crowd of eager pupils left to her sole care. 

Miss Crocker eagerly seized the opportunity, at once 
offering to take the first division under her care for the 
morning. Her eye kindled like that of a war-horse at the 
sound of a trumpet. She went to the blackboard, and 
began to examine the class in arithmetic. They were 
mostly young men, — strong, athletic, very dark, and 
intensely eager for knowledge. Her questions were so 
keen and searching, yet so clear, and she comprehended 
their difficulties so thoroughly, and gave them the desired 
explanations so concisely and fully, that they were worked 
up to the highest pitch of excitement, and seemed as if 
they could not drink in enough of this wonderful outflow 



36 

of inspiration. In their eagerness to work at the black- 
board, their noses were whitened with the chalk, which 
left its mark also on forehead or chin or lip or sleeve, in 
a way most ludicrous to us who were cool lookers-on, but 
which neither she nor they, in their eagerness, perceived. 
I think none of them will ever forget that lesson, which 
brightened the dingy school-room on that rainy day as if 
a new sun had shone in upon them. 

Miss Crocker worked and hoped for the Freedman's 
Society as long as it could possibly be kept alive, being 
one of the Executive Committee who carried it on the last 
year, and finally wound up its affairs. She always retained 
her interest in the teachers, many of whom she regarded 
with strong personal affection ; and she aided them as far 
as lay in her power. 

These years of work in a new field of education, so 
different from the thoroughly organized scholarly exercises 
of the Normal School and college, I believe to have been 
of very great service to her in broadening her acquaintance 
with human life, in bringing all her theories of education 
to the test of fresh practical experience, in blending the 
most tender sympathy with her intellectual tastes, and so 
fitting her fully for her work in the public schools of her 
own city, which was the crowning glory of her life. 

Among the pleasantest features of this journey was a 
week spent with Miss Elizabeth Botume among the sea 



37 

islands of South Carolina. Miss Crocker enjoyed the 
companionship of this noble woman, and had good oppor- 
tunity of seeing the home life of the freedmen under her 
charge. Here she enjoyed in perfection the beautiful gray 
hanging moss; for her entrance to Old Fort Plantation 
was by moonlight through an avenue of live-oaks hung 
with it. 

She also visited with great interest the school on St. 
Helena taught by Misses Towne and Murray, which was 
the oldest one continued under the same teachers, and 
which showed the benefit of this continuous instruction. 

Miss Botume says : — 

"In March, 1869, we received notice that Mrs. Cheney 
and Miss Crocker were on their way South to visit freed- 
men's schools, and would come to us at Old Fort, then 
better known as Smith's Plantation, to visit Whitney 
School. This was an event in our lives, as Miss Fanny 
and I were living very much alone in an old abandoned 
plantation house on Port Royal Island. Our only neigh- 
bors were colored people, mostly refugees. We were 
much pleased, but also not a little anxious, at the prospect 
of this proposed visit. We had not then learned, as we 
have since, that only a few things are essential to the 
comfort and well-being of earnest people. . . . The old 
people, too, came to pay their 'respects to the ladies.' 
Such stories, merry and pathetic, as were told during these 



38 

visits ! . . . Miss Crocker made a lasting impression upon 
all with whom she came in contact. She was clear and 
convincing in her instructions, logical in discussion, and 
gentle and persuasive when differing in opinion. . . . The 
poor women who came to her with their doubts and cares, 
and the mysteries of life, so new and strange to them, 
were encouraged and strengthened. They got a new and 
broader life from our visitors which they never forgot." 

In 1 86$ a number of ladies were called together by Rev. 
Charles Lowe, then secretary of the American Unitarian 
Association, to examine children's books and make a list 
of those worthy a place in Sunday-school libraries. They 
took the name of the Ladies' Commission on Sunday- 
school Books. One lady writes : — 

"Miss Lucretia Crocker was one of the earliest members; 
and her service extended over many years, much of the 
time as president. 

"Many of Miss Crocker's most delightful and admirable 
qualities were manifested at that unique assemblage, where 
she was an ideal presiding officer. 

"Her gentleness and tact drew out the judgments of the 
timid; while her dignified refinement prevented the clash- 
ing of widely different opinions, sometimes uttered with 
considerable vehemence. 

"All the members yielded to the potent sway of so much 



39 

wisdom combined with delicate perception and constant 
consideration for others. 

" Her accurate information in science and history made 
every decision of hers an authority for those who revered 
her with an unfaltering loyalty. 

" She had done her work among us with such modesty and 
simplicity that, when she left us, on account of her public 
duties, she was startled and quite overcome by the natural 
expression of our deep and affectionate appreciation." 

At the earnest request of her friend Mrs. Badger, with 
whom she had been associated at Antioch College, Miss 
Crocker consented to teach botany and mathematics in her 
private school; and after the tragic death of her friend 
she continued for a time her valuable services to the school 
as well as her sympathetic care for the bereaved family. 

Another work in which she was deeply interested was 
the Horace Mann School for Deaf-mutes. Miss Sarah 
Fuller, the devoted teacher of the school, writes: — 

"Her interest in the Horace Mann School dated from 
its inception, and continued undiminished. She was 
always ready to give to it thought, time, and counsel, and 
was so closely identified with all our plans that it is diffi- 
cult to express our appreciation of her. I believe that the 
influence of her beautiful spirit still remains with us." 

The chairman of the board for 1877 speaks of the value 
of the new system of supervision, and adds: — 



40 

"One member of the Board of Supervisors, Miss Lu- 
cretia Crocker, having previously served both as secretary 
and chairman of the committee of this school, brought to 
her new duties an appreciation of its needs and a compre- 
hension of its methods of instruction, and by her unremit- 
ting interest and ready co-operation has rendered efficient 
aid to its present chairman." The report of the year 1887, 
after a notice of her death, continues: "As a member of 
the School Committee, and as the Supervisor immediately 
charged with the oversight of this school, she rendered it 
the same faithful and helpful service which she gave to 
every work intrusted to her." 

This statement from the well-known head-master of the 
Girls' High and Latin Schools comes from one well fitted 
to appreciate her intellectual power: — 

"My first acquaintance with Miss Crocker dates back to 
1866, when, as a recent college graduate, I was the classi- 
cal assistant in the Friends' Academy at New Bedford. 

" Miss Crocker was an intimate friend of the mother of 
one of my pupils, and occasionally made her a brief visit. 
During one of these visits I chanced to call on the pa- 
rents of my pupil, and was introduced to Miss Crocker. 
As we talked, with characteristic tact, and with the spirit 
of self-forgetfulness which always marked her intercourse 



4i 

with others, she directed the conversation to subjects in 
which, from my occupation, she had reason to suppose that 
I took a special interest. She asked me some questions 
about Greek art and archaeology, and the influence which 
these had exerted on modern art and life. My knowledge 
of these subjects was very meagre; but, such as it was, 
Miss Crocker's suggestive questions and appreciative in- 
terest drew it all out, so that on my young pupil, who 
knew even less than I, the conversation produced a marked 
impression. His mother told me a few days afterward 
that, in a spirit of enthusiasm, he had asked her if she 
didn't consider it a great treat to listen to such a conver- 
sation as that. 

"Whatever of interest there may have been in the con- 
versation referred to was, of course, due to Miss Crocker's 
share in it, as any one acquainted with us both at that time 
would readily have understood. The thoughtful courtesy 
with which she turned the conversation to subjects of pre- 
sumed interest to the guest of her friends, her complete 
forgetfulness of self and absorption in the subject under 
discussion, the native refinement of her speech and man- 
ner, — in short, her gracious personality, — lent a charm 
to every conversation in which she bore a part. 

"A gracious personality is not merely a source of 
charm: it is a source of power as well. There are many 
ways in which leaders in education, as in other depart- 



42 

ments of work, may influence those whose work they 
direct. Some exert such influence through stirring speech 
or forceful writing, others through encouraging apprecia- 
tion, practical suggestion, or trenchant criticism communi- 
cated privately; but few have the power to make their 
commendation and their censure alike a source of inspira- 
tion to their subordinates through the charm of a gracious 
personality. Miss Crocker had this power. 

"Miss Crocker, who had previously been a member of 
the Boston School Board, became a member of the Board 
of Supervisors in 1876. As I entered the service of the 
city in 1878, I was familiar with her work as supervisor 
almost from the beginning. Her qualifications for the 
delicate task of criticising and guiding the work of the 
teachers were of a high order. They consisted not merely 
in her attainments as a scholar, her experience as a 
teacher, and her training as a thinker on educational ques- 
tions. In these directions her qualifications, though 
ample, were perhaps not greater than those of others; but, 
independently of these, her delicate tact, her native refine- 
ment, and her fine gift of sympathy enabled her to exert 
a personal influence that, in the same sphere, I have 
seldom seen equalled and never surpassed. Whenever she 
came into a class-room in the course of her official duties, — 
and I have often wondered how, amid the pressure of other 
duties belonging to her position, she found the time to 



43 

visit the schools so often, — she seemed to come, not as an 
official critic, but as a personal friend. Indeed, very 
many, and I think most of the teachers whose work she 
supervised and reported upon, never thought of her as an 
official inspector, but rather as a sympathetic adviser. I 
have no doubt that this unremitting attention to the duties 
of her position, and the mental and physical strain caused 
by the heartiness of her participation in the burdens and 
responsibilities of others, shortened her life. I have heard 
intimate friends, who had seen her in the sick-room, tes- 
tify to the sense of strength and cheer imparted to the 
patient by her mere presence and bearing, and have recog- 
nized in their description the same characteristics that 
inspired teachers with confidence in the soundness of her 
judgment and the genuineness of her sympathy. When- 
ever I hear ardent advocates of the advancement of woman 
say that boys' schools stand especially in need of the 
refining influence of women teachers, I say without hesita- 
tion, 4 Yes, if you can secure the right women ' ; and, 
when I stop to ask myself what I mean by w the right 
women,' I find that I am thinking of Miss Crocker. 

"Miss Crocker seemed always to know, as soon as the 
annual examination of candidates for positions had been 
held, just what the qualifications of all the successful 
candidates were, what their experience had been, and 
where they had gained it, what their personal characteris- 



44 

tics were, and who could be applied to for trustworthy 
information about them. Hence, as a school principal, I 
found it to my advantage to consult her whenever a vacancy 
was to be filled; and, whenever I consulted her, I received 
substantial help. She was accessible not merely at her 
office and in office hours, but at her home and at all hours. 
I fear that this readiness to respond to such calls for help 
may sometimes have led me to bring school matters to her 
attention at times when a proper regard for private rights 
should have taught me to wait; but I was never made to 
feel this. Her time and her knowledge were always at the 
disposal of those to whom the interests of the schools were 
confided. 

"As is well known, Miss Crocker's interests and influ- 
ence were strongest in the direction of the natural sci- 
ences; and the high schools to-day, especially in the 
departments of botany and zoology, bear the marks of her 
enlightened activity. She was efficiently instrumental in 
bringing the teachers of these subjects under the personal 
instruction of specialists at their laboratories, and in 
organizing classes of teachers to be trained in the experi- 
mental method of teaching these and related subjects. 
Through the Committee on Supplies, and especially 
through the enlightened liberality of such friends of edu- 
cation as Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Hemenway, she procured 
for the high-school libraries the best works of reference 



45 

in science, and through systematic annual appropriations 
secured ample materials from year to year for experimental 
work on the part of the pupils. 

"Miss Crocker's death brought a sense of personal loss 
to hundreds of teachers who had come to depend on her 
for wise counsel, or who had enjoyed the inestimable privi- 
lege of her friendship. To the schools her death brought 
a loss that was well-nigh irreparable. 

" John Tetlow. 
"March ii, 1893." 

The story of the election of women on the School Com- 
mittee in Boston has been told in the memoir of Miss 
May. All eyes turned to Miss Crocker as a most desir- 
able member of the board, and she was elected in 1874 to 
represent Ward 1 1 . 

By the changes made in the election of the School Com- 
mittee and the appointment of a Board of Supervisors, a 
new opportunity was opened for women in the care of the 
educational interests of Boston; and Miss Crocker was 
elected supervisor in 1876. It was the first instance of 
a public office of such trust and honor with a handsome 
salary being given to a woman? 

No one could have been better fitted to discharge its 
duties than she was, except in the one respect of physi- 
cal strength. She had long suffered from some delicacy 



4 6 

of the throat or lungs; and, while seldom really ill, she 
did not give the impression of a robust frame equal to the 
demands which her active intellect, zealous energy, and 
conscientious work made upon it. But, if she suffered 
from this cause, the schools did not: they always had her 
best service. She was not careless, and did not squander 
her health ; and she bore the great amount of labor in her 
work, besides the strain of many personal cares and sor- 
rows, with an endurance which astonished even her 
friends. One of the teachers writes with indignation of 
the demands constantly made upon her by the teachers, 
who lay in wait for her when she returned home to her 
meals or for much needed rest. She even attributes her 
early death to this cause. We can hardly blame the 
teachers; for her overflowing kindness and sympathy 
invited this encroachment, and she was so earnest and 
happy in helping them that they could not realize what it 
was costing her. 

But this experience should be a lesson to us all in con- 
fining our demands upon officials to office hours, instead 
of breaking in upon those which should be given to rest 
and home duties and pleasures. 

This word from another of the teachers in the high 
school voices the universal feeling in regard to her work: 

"I find it difficult to say anything of Miss Crocker that 
in any degree satisfies me. So long a time has passed 



47 

since her death that many things suitable for publication 
have lost definiteness in my mind; while many other 
things are unsuitable for public record, although perhaps 
furnishing her highest meed of praise. 

"Clear and vivid in my memory, however, stands out 
the fact that to her, in large measure, is due the successful 
breaking down of the prejudice against the entrance of 
women into such official positions in connection with the 
schools. 

"Gentle, yet firm; of unfailing courtesy, yet of assured 
convictions and of readiness in the expression of them; 
unwavering in her determination to advance the good or to 
redress the wrong, and yet never aggressive; liberal- 
minded, far-sighted, and clear-sighted, dignified and self- 
possessed, — she commanded the attention and retained the 
confidence of all about her. 

"Whatever opposition there may have been to the plac- 
ing of women in official positions in connection with the 
schools could hardly fail to melt away in such a presence, 
and it was a rare good fortune that brought her to us in 
those early days. 

"Because of these qualities, and of this success, she was 
of the greatest service to women teachers. She must have 
been the counsellor and helper of a large number who 
otherwise would have been without an adviser, and who 
felt an unfaltering confidence in her wisdom. In her sym- 



4 8 

pathy with the teachers she made their cause her own, and 
by her own success added to the dignity of their position." 

She made the same impression of personal courtesy on 
the pupils. After parting with the teachers, she would 
turn to the school with a " Good-by, boys ! " that went to 
every heart. No speaker was so welcome at the annual 
visitations, where she often, in a few words, gave advice 
and encouragement that helped the hearers through life. 

Another teacher writes : — 

" When I came to Boston to teach, I had the good fort- 
une to be appointed to teach the natural sciences in a 
high school which was under Miss Crocker's supervision. 
She soon impressed me as extremely patient, helpful, and 
unwearyingly faithful to her high conception of the duties 
of her position. 

"Her aim seemed to be not merely to supervise, but to 
help the teacher and uplift and inspire the pupils, to teach 
them manners and morals as well as science. 

" She never forgot to address the class on entering the 
school-room, nor other small courtesies so often overlooked 
in the hurry of class-work. 

"The pupils felt that she was their friend, and were 
happy in her gentle presence. 

" She led many teachers to take extended courses in nat- 
ural history; and she was the means, not only of introduc- 
ing the best methods of teaching zoology, but also the best 



49 

books and charts on the subject, so that her influence for 
good has been permanent. 

"She was progressive, full of ideas and enthusiasm, had 
remarkable courage, fidelity, and good sense, and, in a 
quiet way, righted many wrongs." 

One teacher, with many other appreciative words of Miss 
Crocker, writes : — 

"I remember one day having occasion to make some 
remarks to a class of little girls upon the subject of good 
manners, and they were trying to tell me what constituted 
a true lady. I asked whether they could name some one 
whom they considered a true lady, one whom they would 
like to resemble when they grew up; and they at once 
replied, 'Miss Crocker.'' She continues: "Dear Miss 
Crocker! I am powerless to do her justice. She has left 
a gap that will never be filled. Time has not healed the 
wound. We miss her as much to-day as ever." 

I can hardly refrain from saying one word of the group 
of friends who surrounded Miss Crocker in the Normal 
School, and remained devotedly loyal to her ever after. 
Mrs. Walton, who served as substitute principal while 
Miss Crocker was a pupil, says: — 

"As I look back, it seems to me that the school at that 
time was especially fortunate in the character of its 
pupils. Among them were many names which represent 
well-known and honored women to-day, who hold impor- 



50 

tant positions in schools and colleges, or who hold an 
honored place in social life; but, of all that galaxy, Miss 
Crocker's light, as a whole, was strongest and farthest 
reaching." 

In the midst of all this beneficent activity the end came 
swiftly and suddenly. Her illness of a few days was 
hardly known to her friends when the terrible announce- 
ment came that her earthly work was over. 

I last saw her at a school exhibition. I knew that she 
had passed through a summer of much personal trial with 
little rest, and I was equally surprised and pleased to see 
her courage unabated and her health apparently uninjured. 
I thought that many years of service were before her. Nor 
was I wrong. Although death closed her immediate work, 
her influence remains active and powerful for the cause of 
education to which she gave her life. 

She died Oct. 10, 1886. A simple funeral service 
was held at her own house ; but, at the earnest desire of the 
many who honored her, a public service was also held in 
the Church of the Disciples, which she had attended. 

Mr. James Freeman Clarke officiated in both places. 

The Normal School, with which she was so long con- 
nected as pupil and teacher, has appropriately named for 
her the " Crocker Memorial Hall," in perpetual memory of 
her services. 

"What shall I say to the girls at the Normal School?" 



5i 

I asked, when about to visit it. "Tell them to be like 
Lucretia Crocker," was the wise answer. Happy shall I 
be if I have, in this brief memoir, helped them to know 
and to imitate what she was! 

The Crocker Hall was built in 1886 and partially 
destroyed by fire Christmas, 1887, but has since been 
rebuilt, and is now in use. 

I will not intrude upon the sacred precincts of family 
life to tell what Miss Crocker was in her home and her 
family. Like a light illuminating her whole being was 
the tender love which, beginning in the home, spread 
abroad to bless many a heart. Their fires were kindled 
from it, but they took nothing away from it. 

Such, too, was her religious life, — rarely spoken of, but 
filling all her work. A friend sends me, as the best 
expression of her feeling, the beautiful hymn of Samuel 
Johnson, beginning, — 

" Father, in thy mysterious presence kneeling, 
Fain would our souls feel all thy kindling love." 

The third verse was her favorite, and it brings her deepest 
life before us : — 

" In the heart's depths a peace serene and holy 
Abides ; and when pain seems to have her will, 
Or we despair, oh, may that peace rise slowly, 
Stronger than agony, and we be still." 



52 

An old Normal School friend has kindly loaned me a 
short series of letters ranging from 1853 to 1873. While 
they are mostly brief business notes referring to the 
arrangements for Normal School reunions, they yet serve 
to prove her constant interest in this school, and her will- 
ingness to give time and thought to the smallest details 
concerning its welfare. They show also her warm interest 
in all that affected her home. She alludes to the influence 
of sorrow and to the care of her mother during her recov- 
ery from an accident. In 1865 she alludes to the perilous 
times. She also speaks with great interest of Miss Hall's 
Geography, of the publication of which she took entire 
charge. She frequently alludes to the arrangement of 
botany classes with Mr. Russell, Horace Mann, and 
others; and, in a note dated June 29 (1871), she adds 
these pleasant words of her own interest in that study: — 

" My dear Miss Peirce, — I meant to tell you sooner that 
I read your essay with pleasure; but 4 time flies ' with me, 
as I presume it does with you. I know you have enjoyed 
your botany all these years from the tenor of your article; 
and I often feel how much it has been to me. There are 
times in life when one wants and needs to get very close 
to nature, and when a little knowledge helps to unveil so 
much beauty that it fills the thought, as nothing else 
could, with a kind of sacred delight. 



53 

"I am always thankful, too, for those Newton days: 
they brought something better than mere knowledge. I 
liked, a few years ago, to hear Mr. Emerson say of our 
time, 'There was a religious spirit in the school.' 

" I thank you for your kind remembrance, and want to 
ask you some time to put a few seeds of the 'Pseudo Plan- 
tanus' in an envelope for me. I first learned from your 
article that the embryo shows through. 

"Do you find good places to botanize in Cambridge? I 
wish I could go oftener. 

"Yours with love, 

"L. Crocker. 
"90 Rutland Square." 



Parts of three letters will show the spirit with which 
she took up the work on the School Committee. Shrink- 
ing as she did, in her natural delicacy of feeling, from all 
publicity, she yet did not hesitate to bear any unpleasant 
results of a step which she thought to be necessary to the 
interests of public education. June 15 she says: — 

"My class closes this week. I never accomplish half 
I want to, and you may be sure no teaching has ever been 
to me like that of the Normal School. Private school 
girls are very agreeable in many respects, but few of 
them recognize the duty or pleasure of real study." 



54 

I give a brief letter of Miss May, and one from Miss 
Crocker which binds them pleasantly together, and is char- 
acteristic of them both: — 

"December, 1873, probably. 

" Dear Miss Crocker, — At a meeting of the Club Com- 
mittee on Schools yesterday I was asked to ask you if you 
would write a word for one of the newspapers, say the 
Advertiser, in furtherance of our work; that is, the putting 
women on the School Committee. The particular point 
I was to ask you to treat, if you would, was the reason 
why teachers wish it; that is, those of them who do wish it. 

"Did you see George B. Emerson's letter in the Adver- 
tiser about a fortnight ago? If so, perhaps it would be 
well for you to mention the fact that he had already 
spoken, which would be a reason why others should bear 
their testimony. We hope you will feel like saying yes, 
and, unlike the Scripture son, doing it too. If you will, 
we will take the small trouble requisite to get your article 
inserted. We shall find it a pleasure. I hope you will 
sometimes come to the club on the third Monday this 
winter. They being my special days for going, I natur- 
ally want all the good folk who belong to be there then. 

"Ever heartily yours, 

"Abby W. May." 



55 

" My dear Miss Peirce, — Do you think me very shabby 
not to have acknowledged .your last note with the para- 
graph I desired? I have only waited expecting daily to 
see it in print or to hear from Miss May. 

"You know, of course, that she has become a candidate, 
and that, if we are legally admitted, she will work with 
me on the School Committee. I do not want the added 
work, nor have I enjoyed the recent publicity; but I 
rejoice that the principle has triumphed. Mr. Stearns 
sent me an earnest congratulation, and to-day Mrs. Walton 
writes of her satisfaction. 

"To-day Miss May writes me that she was just about to 
send the article to the press, when affairs took so unex- 
pectedly favorably a turn that she thought the greatest 
amount of letting alone was best. 

"I am sure you will perceive her motives and interpret 
her course rightly, besides its being the best policy to let 
the ball roll which had been set in motion, and not rouse 
opposition, perhaps, by calling out teachers not favorably 
disposed. 

"You will see that it became a personal matter with 
her also. I hope you did not give time valuable for some 
other purpose to fulfilling my request. You certainly 
have my thanks for your readiness. Do come and see me 
some time! Yours ever, 

"L. Crocker." 



56 



" December, 1873 (?)> Thursday Morning. 

"My dear Miss Peirce, — Your friendly and private word 
is a balm to my wounded feelings just now. I had no 
idea when I said 4 yes ' last week to the request of a gentle- 
man desirous of starting the question of a woman on the 
School Committee of our ward, that I should be handled 
in the papers thus, even before a nomination. It is very 
embarrassing; and, if my principles were not firmer than 
my courage, I should be weak indeed. 

"I only expect to be a victim." 

(How little did she foresee the work before her!) 

"This was all that was asked, without probably the 
'ghost of a chance of an election,' so that the movement 
may be started for all the future. I feel almost a martyr 
now. It is hateful to be heralded; but I gave myself to 
the question two or more years ago, and so could not back- 
slide, whatever personal annoyance came of it. I was 
intending three day ago to grant the request of Miss May, 
and send her a paragraph on the point mentioned. I 
couldn't possibly now, though it might never transpire 
who did it. But don't you want to say briefly why the 
good teachers hail the movement, how they will appreciate 
the sympathy and co-operation of women? and, if the 
young lady teachers who are only teaching to provide them- 
selves with 'fuss and feathers ' for a time do not welcome 



57 

the prospect, it is because they know they will meet care- 
ful supervision. 

"If you like to send me a paragraph, I will send it to 
Miss May, telling her she could not expect me to say a 
word, but I send something from a bona fide teacher. 

"If not moved to do so, don't trouble yourself: I don't 
want to press the matter on, but only to redeem a promise 
to Miss May by proxy; for I met her after the note and 
said I would write a word in a few days. 

"Just in time for the post. 

"Yours ever, 

"L. Crocker." 



ABBY W. MAY 

Philanthropist 



ABBY WILLIAMS MAY, 

PHILANTHROPIST. 

The life of Abby W. May should be fully recorded, not 
because of her great achievement in one direction, but be- 
cause it will preserve the memory of a woman living a 
simple, true, and grand life in this century of woman's 
development, and will be full of suggestion and encourage- 
ment to those who are struggling to carry forward the great 
work for humanity in which she bore her part. It is good 
for us to know what influences helped her to become what 
she was, what hindrances stood in her way, and how much 
she accomplished. 

She builded up a character which was a tower of strength 
to those who gathered around her. 

Abby Williams May was the youngest child of Samuel 
and Mary (Goddard) May, there being six children in all, 
— four brothers and one sister. 

Her father was a merchant in Boston, in which city he 
lived and died. He was a man of strong, upright, and 
resolute character. These Puritan traits are reproduced in 



all the family, but their keen intelligence and progressive 
tendencies have made them liberal in their religious views. 

Mr. May was one of the last to be called familiarly by 
the old New England title of "Deacon," which office he held 
in the church in Hoi lis Street under the pastorate of Rev. 
John Pierpont; and he was one of the first "to give Theo- 
dore Parker a chance to be heard in Boston." 

As Abby was the youngest child, she knew her father 
first when he seemed to her somewhat advanced in life; 
and, when he died at the great age of ninety-three, she 
said, "I never remembered my father as a young man 
before." The idealizing power of death seemed to bring 
his whole life into her knowledge. She was like him in 
his love of method and "fondness for keeping things as 
they are " in minor matters. 

Her mother had first the good influences of a simple 
country home in Brookline, and then the advantages of edu- 
cation and society in her uncle's wealthy home in Boston. 
Her eldest son, at her funeral, said of her : — 

"I do think, while I make no peculiar claim on her 
account, that my mother's life has been a consistently true 
one during all the seventy years in which I have known 
her, and true to a high purpose. This purpose rose and 
broadened as she acted upon it, led her steadily forward, 
and inspired the new courage and faith which each new step 
demanded. I have no reason to think that it ever occurred 



to her that this purpose had in it aught unusual or worthy 
of remark. To her it was only an obvious necessity. 
This purpose, I believe, simply was to do her duty to the 
extent of her power where, in the providence of God, her 
lot was cast." 

She had the gift of home-making. " Our home was the 
happiest," said her eldest daughter, — "large, cheerful, 
sunny rooms, with the bright wood fires, and a father and 
mother devoted to their home and their family." The 
individuality of the children was respected, and all had 
their fair chance. 

But, while Mrs. May was the best of wives and mothers, 
the four walls of the house did not confine her affections 
nor her activity; and, after the children grew up, she turned 
her attention to the reforms of anti-slavery and temper- 
ance, in which she led her husband, and in which he so 
heartily joined with her. She was interested in all the 
movements for the improvement of woman's condition, and 
did not hesitate to occupy an unusual position when it was 
necessary to aid in a good cause. She was not less active 
in private benevolence. Thus our friend was emphatically 
well-born and well-bred, and the heir of the noble traits of 
both parents. 

From some unknown cause Abby was always a very deli- 
cate child; and at one time the family physicians gave 
her up, saying "they could do no more." But the mother 

[2] 



4 

and the nurse said, "While there is life, there is hope"; 
and she was saved to us. 

Abby first went to a little "Infant School" kept by 
Miss Brush. 

In 1836, having suffered from an attack of measles, her 
mother sent her to the celebrated community at Brook 
Farm, under the especial care of Mrs. Ripley, hoping that 
the active life and good air would benefit her. The child 
was a little homesick; and, although she assisted Mrs. 
Ripley in her work, cooking and housework were never 
much to her taste. She was too young to retain any 
strong impression from the peculiar influences of this 
place. About 1837 she went with her sister to a school 
kept by the Misses Smith, where she was undoubtedly well 
grounded in the three R's, as was the fashion of the time. 

A school friend remembers her at Mr. Folsom's school 
in 1839. She afterward (in 1841) went to the school of 
Mr. George B. Emerson, for whom she always cherished a 
warm regard. She said of him, "He certainly is one of 
the bright lights of the age." She finished her school life 
July 3, 1847. Her attainments at school were not unus- 
ual, but she had a good English education and good habits 
of reading and thought. She afterward studied both 
French and German. She was very thorough and method- 
ical by nature, and read systematically and conscientiously, 
as much from a sense of duty as from inclination. She 



5 

was very fond of keeping accounts, and had remarkable fi- 
nancial ability. 

An interesting anecdote of her childhood given by her 
sister shows the intense moral earnestness of her nature 
as well as her religious feeling and her desire to impart 
good to others : — 

"We always from her childhood realized that she was 
bright. I remember her arranging chairs in our nursery 
for her audience and building up with tables, crickets, 
etc., a pulpit for herself, so that on Sunday afternoons she 
would collect all whom she could from the household, and 
conduct a regular service, reading hymns, making a little 
prayer, and preaching a sermon. I can remember but 
little about it, excepting that we (my Brother F. and I) 
often felt rather bored by sitting so long; but mother 
desired us to do it. The service was earnest, and the 
elders doubtless considered it remarkable." 

The mother's wisdom is shown in respecting rather than 
laughing at this earnestness. 

At the suggestion of Mr. Alcott, she kept a journal 
regularly, from which a few extracts are taken. 

In 1845 Theodore Parker began preaching in Boston; and 
she became a regular attendant at his church, and took part 
in the Sunday-school and worked on the Benevolent Com- 
mittee. "Took a class of little girls. I hope I may give 
them some ideas. They, I am sure, will give me some." 



Oct. 23, 1847, she says: "Went to Mr. Parker's to 
attend the first meeting of the Bible-class. There were 
about thirty-eight ladies there, several of whom I knew. 
I enjoyed the afternoon." She also worked with the 
Provident Association and the Tuckerman Sewing Circle. 
One entry gives an idea of her method and adherence to a 
task, even when it had become uninteresting. She began 
to work a screen in October, 1846, and it apparently was 
slow of accomplishment; for on Nov. 1, 1847V she writes, 
" Began to work on my screen, which I intend to work 
upon for two hours every day until it is finished." She 
fulfilled her task. 

Her girlhood was spent in Boston, in an educated and 
refined circle, but under the stimulating influences of the 
[ctive reforms of the day. By marriage her family was 
:onnected with the Alcotts, and she had an intimate rela- 
tion with Louisa. She had a warm admiration for Mrs. 
Alcott, and prized a correspondence with her very highly. 
Sfye attended many of Mr. Alcott' s conversations with 
gre% interest ; but her keen sense of humor made her very 
sensible of his peculiarities, which often excited her mirth. 

She had' a profound admiration for Mr. Emerson, and 
never failed to hear him on every opportunity. She was 
thus in accord with the best thought of that Transcendental 
period; and, while never a hard student, she was a method- 
ical reader, and her mind was very active. A native poise 



and good sense prevented her from being carried away by 
any of the vagaries of the day. 

In 1847 sne records reading Burton's "Anatomy of 
Melancholy " with a schoolmate. 

This same year she, with seven other young girls, 
formed a class for reading, beginning with Spenser's 
"Fairie Queene," which, she says, "I like very much." 
"The Bothie of Toper na Fuosich " and Lowell's witty and 
wicked "Fable for Critics," which she heartily enjoyed, 
followed. A Dante class was another means of grace. 
With only Cary's translation, we still learned something 
of the old Florentine. Plato was another subject which 
Mr. Alcott and Mr. Emerson heartily approved, saying 
they would gladly meet any young women who read such 
authors. 

But the strongest influence came from Theodore Parker, 
and her journals are full of abstracts of his sermons. 
Many years later she said to a friend depressed by grief: 
"Why do you not read something of Theodore Parker's 
every day? He gives you such an uplift." But, although 
educated and -strongly influenced by this circle of thinkers, 
and intensely concerned with the moral questions of the 
times, her nature was too broad and original to be confined 
to any sect or class. Her leligious life was deep and sin- 
cere. She had been brought up in the liberal views to 
which many have to attain through severe struggle; and 



8 

she felt that those of different faith might have, seemed to 
have, a warmth of feeling, a religious zeal, a something, 
which perhaps her friends lacked, and which she might 
gain elsewhere. She often quoted the saying of a friend, 
"Experiencing religion seems to consist in joining a 
church you were not brought up in." She was for a time 
interested in the preaching of a Baptist, and also of a 
Methodist clergyman, and undoubtedly gained from the 
experience a catholicity in her religious views which 
saved her from bigotry or contempt for any sincere relig- 
ious feelings. But, fruitful of good as this experience was, 
she returned to her old allegiance, and, as will appear 
later, took up an active connection with the Unitarian 
Church, which she believed to be representative of the 
truest Christianity. 

She frequently attended the Roman Catholic services in 
Easter week, which she enjoyed very much. An extract 
from a letter will illustrate these thoughts: — 

" I have been made very sorry by hearing Mr. 

speak. I never heard any Sunday service — please God, I 
never shall again — that seemed to me so far away in its 
interest from the highest things we all know. And I long 
to let you know what sort of husks he is dispensing to 
these people, in hopes you can influence him to do differ- 
ently. Why, dear , if you would walk into that desk, 

and simply say,' 'My friends,' as you would say it, you 



9 

would do incomparably more for their elevation than 

in these two Sunday afternoons." 

Probably her first philanthropic work outside her home 
was in a sewing-school in connection with Mr. Parker's 
church, where she diligently instructed the young waifs 
from the street in this homely art. Many comic scenes 
enlivened the work; but my strongest recollection is of an 
earnest conversation as we walked home one spring after- 
noon, which revealed to me the intense earnestness of her 
moral nature struggling with the great problems of life 
opening to her. I went into the large, cool parlor of the 
pleasant home in Atkinson Street, and we continued our 
talk till the lengthening shadows drove me home; but 
from that time I date a friendship "which knew no retiring 
ebb." She bore the faithful rebuke of a friend nobly. She 
often questioned, "Was I not impatient or irritable?" 
She did not flatter her friend, but she appreciated her 
inmost nature. She had many friends very closely at- 
tached to her, — younger friends, who idolized her, and 
waited upon her, and saved her time and strength by their 
service; new friends, to whom she was like a draught of 
the elixir of life, — and sometimes this gave pain to others, 
who felt bereaved. But, withal, she was never disloyal to 
an old friend, who always found her place kept for her, 
even if another was in the foreground for a time. 

A little anecdote will show both her influence upon 



IO 

younger friends and her humor. She was carefully cour- 
teous in asking service from others, even of those whose 
office rendered it proper for them to render it. She would 
say, "Would you mind going out to mail this letter? " etc. 
One of her adorers once answered: "Miss May, it hurts me 
to have you ask if I would be willing to do anything for 
you. Don't you know that, if you wished me to go out 
and stand on my head on the Brimmer fountain, I would 
do it at once?" "Well, I do wish it," she replied. 
"Go!" "And such was her power over me," said her 
friend, "that for a moment I felt that I had got to go, 
until her hearty laugh brought me back to my senses." 

From 1856 to i860 she was a visitor of the Provident 
Association, and about the same time engaged in the work 
of the Reform School at Lancaster. She took her mother's 
place on the board of the Aunty Gwynn Temporary Home, 
and was clerk of the corporation for some years. 

In 1850 the School of Design for Women was established 
in Boston. It was intended to open a new avenue to em- 
ployment for women in design as connected with the 
mechanic arts. A gentleman from the school of South 
Kensington was appointed teacher, and for a time he 
roused a great enthusiasm for the work. Some of the lead- 
ing manufacturers encouraged the enterprise by contribu- 
tions of money and personal interest. Miss May had a 
strong feeling that women should fit themselves for some 



II 

work as a provision against coming need, and she joined 
the school as a pupil in 185 1. She possessed no special 
talent in this direction, however, but was interested in 
the purpose of the school, and became a member of the 
committee who had charge of it. As she was the youngest 
member, she did not then have opportunity to show her 
remarkable business ability. 

She gave some attention to music, in which she had 
great enjoyment, especially in the sacred music of the ora- 
torio and the church. She took lessons of Dresel and of 
Lange, and with her usual fidelity practised her hour a 
day, until the war claimed all her time and thought. 

In 1852 Miss May visited Europe with some relatives, 
spending about six months away from home. This journey 
undoubtedly developed her mind and enriched her life; but 
she suffered from a sun-stroke in Rome, from which she 
did not fully recover, a] ways feeling the effect of it in hot 
weather. 

In 1853 a nevv experience came to her, which gave her a 
companion for life and fresh and interesting responsibility. 
Her youngest brother, Frederic, who was very dear to her, 
had married the previous year; and his wife died at the 
birth of her first child. Abby undertook the care of the 
little girl, and at once devoted herself to her education. 
She was very careful of the health of the child, insisting 
especially upon sufficient sleep. Her first experiment in 



educating her outside the home was in a little private class 
of three children in a friend's house. 

In 1859 Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska came to Boston, at the 
request of the trustees of the New England Female Medi- 
cal College, to take the chair of obstetrics. She made it a 
condition that she should have the opportunity of clinical 
instruction for her pupils and a committee of women to 
assist her in the management of this department. Miss 
May, as secretary, made the first annual report of the hos- 
pital in i860. It is an admirable paper, — full, concise, 
and tender in feeling. One of her characteristic expres- 
sions is, "A paying patient in every respect." She con- 
tinued in this office, doing valuable service while the 
connection with the college lasted. 

Miss May was then, as always, an ardent homoeopathist. 
One day she came to the hospital with a violent headache. 

Dr. Zakrzewska proposed to prescribe for her; but she 
refused, adding that she would rather "die under homoeo- 
pathic than live under allopathic treatment." But she 
presently asked the doctor what medicine she would pre- 
scribe for her now. "A cup of -hot water," answered the 
doctor. "Oh, that is what I have been longing for all 
the way here! " she replied. 

At one time she had been a patient at the celebrated 
water-cure of Dr. Robert Wesselhoeft at Brattleboro, and 
felt great benefit from the treatment. The social influ- 



13 

ences were delightful, and she sometimes said that "was 
the happiest time of her life." 

In 1850 the family removed from the early home in At- 
kinson Street to No. 5 Franklin Street. This street was 
then not given up to business. It had a green plot in 
the middle, and was a pleasant as well as convenient 
situation. In 1857 the family again removed to Hollis 
Street. In 1861 she took a normal course in gymnastics 
of Dr. Dio Lewis, and gave the valedictory address at 
the graduation September 5. She did this partly with a 
view to a means of self-support if it should become neces- 
sary, and partly for the benefit to her health which she 
found from it. She gave a few lessons at Miss Peabody's 
kindergarten and at Miss Watson's school in Roxbury. 

In 1 86 1 came the greatest event of our history since the 
Revolution, and Miss May's whole soul was absorbed in 
the war which opened the way for the abolition of slavery. 
It was a great strength and happiness to her that her whole 
family were heartily in sympathy with her. I once asked 
her, "Does not your mother feel this excitement pain- 
fully?" "No," she said: "she has so long been full of 
anxiety on the subject of slavery that now, when she sees 
the country is fairly aroused and taking part so strongly 
against it, she feels confident in the final result, and is 
calmer and happier than ever." 

"The New England Women's Auxiliary Association, in 



14 

which Miss May was an enthusiastic worker and leader, 
was a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission. 

"It was in the autumn of 1861 that one or two women of 
Boston were stirred by a circular of Mr. Olmsted's to try 
to organize the women of New England into an association 
that should work for sick and wounded soldiers systemati- 
cally and efficiently, and one of the first names suggested 
as that of a most desirable ally was that of Abby W. 
May. 

"At this time Dr. Howe was sole agent of the Sanitary 
Commission for New England, and in his small office in 
Bromfield Street received and forwarded such boxes of hos- 
pital supplies as were sent to him. He was at first 
inclined to think that it was not worth while to do more, 
or to organize work of the women of New England. But 
he was soon persuaded by Dr. Bellows to become vice- 
president of the large association of which Dr. John Ware 
was first president. This was Dec. 5, 1861. 

"There were three Committees, Executive, Financial, 
and Industrial. Miss May was at first secretary of the 
Executive Committee, while Mrs. Parkman was chairman; 
but, after the latter was called away from the country in 
February, 1862, Miss May was chosen chairman, and con- 
tinued in that capacity till the association dissolved in 
March, 1866. 

"To most of those who worked under her in that commit- 



15 

tee she was the embodiment of what a chairman should be, 
and by several she was always spoken of and to as 'Chair' 
as long as she lived. Her methods of conducting meetings 
were wonderfully business-like. No time was wasted in 
useless talk; and at the same time how amusing she was! 
She had a keen appreciation of the ludicrous, which, com- 
bined with her enthusiasm for work, made those weekly 
Executive Committee meetings afternoons to be looked 
forward to and remembered with pleasure. 

"The members of the committee changed from year to 
year, as other duties claimed them: only Miss May and 
Miss Sarah C. Williams were actually working from the 
very beginning to the very end. Miss May made a trip on 
one of the Hospital Transports, and came back saddened 
by the terrible sufferings she had witnessed, and with her 
sympathies deepened, so that her work in writing reports 
for the newspapers and in travelling and making addresses 
in country towns was more effectual and comprehensive 
and more personally touching than before. 

"The ties that bind that committee together are very 
strong, largely owing to the charm of the personality of 
their chairman. Every year since the war they have met 
together on the anniversary of the opening of their first 
office for interchange of memories and good fellowship. 

"Since the death of Miss May the jovial tea-parties have 
been given up; but the friendly remnant still exchange 



i6 

greetings on the 13th of December, and the remembrances 
of the busy, satisfying working days of the war-times 
deepen the old feeling of regard and admiration for our 
leader. 

"She had a very remarkable power of controlling and 
inspiring and converting most varied material. Older 
workers prejudiced by their faith in methods that had 
served well in other fields, and young hands chafing against 
what seemed to them unnecessary forms, yielded alike to 
the charm of her clear, far-seeing mind and persuasive 
voice. And, after the war was over, the work that con- 
tinued for the returning sufferers and the destitute families 
was carried on by her with such sympathy and tenderness 
of personal feeling that her comrades sometimes longed 
to protect her." 

I have given this account in the words of one of her 
fellow-workers ; but it is difficult for even them to express 
the depth of thought and feeling that she put into the work, 
and the wonderful inspiration she became to others. 
Some of them were young, and quite new to the tremendous 
moral questions involved in the struggle. She sustained 
them amid the trials of the hour, and became to them a 
guiding star of faith and hope that they never lost sight of. 
She was thoroughly in her element. She liked to deal 
with large interests, to discuss and work with her peers, to 
have her full powers called out, and to see the results of 



17 

her work. The tenderness of her nature was brought forth, 
as well as her strength ; and her heart warmed to the lov- 
ing ones in their country homes who sent the comforters 
and socks and goodies for the sick soldiers, as well as to 
the hero on the battlefield. She often went out to the 
country towns to speak to the people, to animate them and 
give them instruction for the conduct of the work. 

It was now that her admirable powers as a presiding 
officer were called into full play. 

In an address at Hampton Mrs. Julia Ward Howe gave 
an account of her first experience of Miss May in this 
capacity. She herself was presiding at a meeting of friends 
of the Fair for the Cretans; and, not then having much 
experience, she found it difficult to control the meeting. 
Some one said to her, "You should ask Miss May to pre- 
side." She did not quite see why she should ask one 
so much younger to take this place; but, following the 
advice, she quickly discovered the power which could bring 
discordant elements into order, and carry on business 
quickly and thoroughly. 

It was interesting to see her preside at a meeting where 
gentlemen were present who were unaccustomed to the 
action of women at business meetings. The beautiful 
blending of authority and courtesy with which she con- 
ducted impressed them with wonder and respect. 

That she was sometimes a little over-commanding may 



18 

be admitted; but it was usually in the interest of des- 
patching business, and I have known her to win the 
hearts even of those to whom I have told her she was too 
imperative. 

Miss May was anxious to see the work of the Sanitary 
Commission near the seat of war; and on June n, 1862, 
she, with Mrs. M. C. E. Barnard and Mrs. Trotter, started 
on the "Daniel Webster" for the Pamunkey River, a little 
below "White House." There she and Mrs. Barnard were 
transferred to the "Elm City," with sick and (afterward) 
wounded on board. I give a brief account from her 
journal. The journey ended on Saturday, June 21, at 
Albany, where the wounded were speedily taken to the 
hospital; and before night the traveller was at home again. 

June 14, 1862. — "Passed Capes Charles and Henry very 
early, and were in Chesapeake Bay. Warm, bright, and 
most lovely. We watched the views. York River was 
entered about nine o'clock. . . . The York River is charm- 
ing. The shores are rather low, but beautifully wooded, 
except where they have been cleared for batteries and 
earthworks. The houses were widely scattered. A few 
were handsome, but the majority were Negro huts. We 
saw many contrabands, but few white. The river was full 
of boats and barges, carrying troops and supplies. York- 
town looked poorly enough. West Point is charmingly 
situated just at the confluence of the Pamunkey and Mat- 



19 

tapony. We left the latter on our right, and took the 
Pamunkey, the crookedest specimen of a river that one 
could wish to see. It wound so that we sailed toward all 
points of the compass. The shores were exquisite, so 
green and lovely it was hard to fancy war was so near, 
where everything looked so peaceful; and yet there was 
a blight over everything, — ■ at least, to my thought there 
was, — and I felt sad as I reflected how many years it would 
take to vitalize this degenerate land. God is giving us 
a chance now. May he give us to be equal to the duty, 
because faithful to himself! The river was very narrow, 
and all alive with boats. Navigation is a little difficult 
for a ship drawing so much water as ours. ... At about 
3.30 we reached our destination, a little below White 
House, and anchored." 

On June 16 Miss May and Mrs. Barnard were trans- 
ferred to the "Elm City." 

"Soon we had a state-room assigned us and our wards. 
We went at once to work. The prospect was dire. The 
boat shockingly dirty, some of the patients in the delirium 
of typhoid, and a general hubbub, owing to the fact that 
one hundred and fifty patients were brought on yesterday, 
who must be carried off to-day from a change of plans. 
My ward was in the hold, and very dirty. I had it swept 
at once, and provided the men with tea. . . . After I had 
finished the work in my ward, I was told that a large num- 
[2] 



20 

ber of wounded men were expected soon after midnight, 
and would be to feed, and was asked to sit up or be ready 
to get up. I chose the latter. . . . About one o'clock they 
arrived, rebels and Unionists, all sorts ; and I mounted, 
and helped to furnish them with tea and bread and butter, 
which they seemed glad enough to get. . . . Next morning 
early we sailed." 

yune 17. — "At about 5 p.m. we came to anchor off 
Fortress Monroe. . . . Later the surgeon came on board, 
and informed us that we were to load up with convales- 
cents from the neighboring hospitals, having first dis- 
charged the rebels, who must be kept near the lines, to be 
exchanged for our own wounded prisoners." 

On June 18 the boat was at anchor off Fortress Monroe, 
and the ladies had a chance to go on shore for a little look 
at the fort, etc. 

She writes that in the afternoon "numbers of soldiers 
were constantly brought on board, filling up our number 
to about four hundred. I had one hundred and fifteen in 
my ward. . . . My men were mostly convalescent, and hob- 
bled up on deck, so that I had very little to do for them, 
except to see them properly fed and clothed to the extent 
of the wardrobe's limit," etc. 

They sailed on the 19th from Fortress Monroe, arrived 
at quarantine ground, New York, on Friday, the 20th, 
and on the 21st landed the men at Albany. 



21 

In 1863 President Lincoln took the important step of 
calling into the service of the government those who were 
most interested in the result of the war, the colored citi- 
zens, both those who had long enjoyed freedom and the 
lately enfranchised. Governor Andrew warmly seconded 
his plans, and at once enlisted colored men to form the 
54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. He wisely 
chose the finest officers at his command to drill and lead 
these troops, and their noble record is a part of the glori- 
ous history of the war. Two other regiments were subse- 
quently formed, and sent to the field. Friends of the 
colored troops wished to give to the men those comforts 
which the government could not furnish, and a meeting 
was called on February 2J to form a committee for this 
purpose. At the second meeting Miss May presided, and 
an Executive Committee was formed, of which she was one 
of the vice-presidents. She was present at most of the 
meetings, and served on various sub-committees. She 
reported at one time on "mittens, combs, and shears," 
which she had procured for the soldiers, and at another 
presented a design for the banner, on one side of 
which should be a figure of Justice; and she was also on 
the committee to provide the regiment with a band. 
Her name does not appear in the records of the last 
years of this work, probably because all her strength and 
time were absorbed in the work of the Sanitary Com- 
mission. 



22 

A little later she did not fail to take an active interest 
in the New England Freedman's Aid Society, and she was 
elected on the Finance Committee. But this position did 
not give much scope to her powers, as the Treasurer re- 
ceived the money, and the Teachers' Committee took 
charge of spending it. 

In 1866 she went as delegate from this society to a con- 
vention of the various societies, or Freedman's Union 
Commission, at Baltimore, to elect a president for the 
National Union. It was then an unusual thing for women 
to be appointed on such occasions; and she and her col- 
league found themselves as ' great a source of embarrass- 
ment to the majority of the convention as the colored 
bishop who also represented a branch society, since a 
grand supper was to close the exercises, at which the pres- 
ence of Women and Negroes would be an insupportable 
anomaly. Still, as the New England Society was an 
important member of the convention, the delegates were 
in other respects treated with great attention, which Miss 
May received with her usual dignified courtesy, while 
richly enjoying the humor of the peculiar situation. 

In 1866 she was transferred to the Committee on 
Teachers of the New England Society, where she found 
her right place, and began that union of work with Miss 
Crocker which proved so fruitful of service in other fields. 
She took a warm personal interest in the teachers, and 



23 

added to the charm of the annual festival, where her little 
niece was one of the lovely trio of 

" Three young maids in friendship met " 

who distributed the flowers to the teachers just returned 
from their labors. The war was over; and, in the san- 
guine hope that the fourteenth amendment had sufficiently 
secured the rights of the Negro, and that the school sys- 
tems of the Southern States would give him equal oppor- 
tunities of education with the whites, the New England 
Freedman's Society closed its work. And the noble women 
who had postponed the discussion of their own claims to 
citizenship, in order to aid in securing union for the 
country and freedom for the Negro, now began to reap their 
reward in the impulse given to the advancement of women 
in every direction. 

While still as broad in her interests as ever, and never 
deaf to the claims of labor and charity as well as of intel- 
lectual and moral progress for all, still the thread of devo- 
tion to the cause of women is henceforth conspicuous in 
all Miss May's thought and work. 

She was a full and ardent woman suffragist, and was 
eager for the time when the admission of women to that 
right would enable her to put forth her full powers for 
other work in the interest of humanity. She was vice- 
president of the Massachusetts Association. She was the 



24 

one to propose the annual festival, which she preferred to 
holding a fair; and she often made bright and telling 
speeches on these festive occasions. 

Miss May's overflowing humor, which sometimes took 
the form of irony, often led to a misunderstanding of her 
position on suffrage. On one merry occasion she brought 
out a newspaper paragraph, in which every objection to 
woman suffrage was set down with such extreme violence 
and superb disregard of truth or reason that it was simply 
comical. But Miss May read it with such expression, and 
closed so emphatically, "That represents my view," that 
one of her horror-stricken hearers exclaimed, "Why, Miss 
May, you really don't think that is so?" 

Another movement for women, which succeeded far 
beyond the expectation of its founders, was the establish- 
ment of "The New England Women's Club" in 1868. 
Evidently, the time was ripe for this step, since, with no 
concert, clubs were formed almost simultaneously in Bos- 
ton and New York, which have ever since been the leaders 
in the great movement throughout the United States. 

Many clubs from Maine to Georgia are now joined in a 
federation for mutual advancement, while many others are 
springing up everywhere. I think that Miss May was 
foremost in enlarging the scope of the club from merely 
social enjoyment to the active discussion of important 
intellectual and moral themes. Her arrangement of spe- 



25 

cial days for separate subjects has been always adhered to, 
and followed by many other clubs. Yet nobody enjoyed 
the social fun better than she; and she contributed largely 
to the delight of the early club teas, when all could gather 
around the table, and joke and frolic were the order of the 
day. It is impossible to reproduce the play of her wit and 
humor, which ran over like a mountain stream; but, like 
that, it brightened all the air which entered into our cir- 
culation, and made us brighter and stronger. She after- 
wards became treasurer of the club, and managed its 
finances with marked ability. Her position as chairman 
of the Work Committee gave her the opportunity of pre- 
senting many industrial and economic problems, which she 
discussed with great earnestness and skill. She had long 
been interested in the Social Science Association, and 
she became an active worker in the Boston Co-operative 
Building Company. She had the power of drawing able 
people about her, so that her own work was multiplied by 
their loving help. 

But "all work" might have made even this bright mind 
"dull," and her physical strength was never equal to the 
activity of her mind. So, when summer came, she sought 
the needed rest at mountain or seashore, and especially at 
her beloved "Prout's Neck." This was her most frequent 
retreat from 1865. Here she revelled in perfect quiet and 
freedom, and gave free vent to all the fun and nonsense 



26 

which gave relaxation to her weary brain. Yet it was 
amusing to see how she carried her love of method and 
exactness even into her amusements. Her day was 
planned as regularly as at home. So many hours devoted 
to reading, and the newspapers carefully read in their 
order: if the mail came irregularly, she did not tear off 
the wrapper to get the latest telegraphic news, but took 
the oldest paper first. One summer she was fond of 
"Patience," and had a little French book of the games. 
Regularly, after dinner, she played three games, taking 
them in order from the book, and never passing to another 
till she had succeeded with the first, but, if unsuccessful 
one day, taking the same game up again on the next. 

Then, with a bag filled with books and papers, she took 
her way with her friend across the fields to the outside 
rocks, where she passed the afternoon watching the dashing 
waves. Her letters are full of the enjoyment of nature at 
this place. At meal-times and evenings she gave free 
vent to her fun and wit. She was the life of everything, 
arranging charades and playing games and keeping every- 
body merry. She indulged her love of simplicity in dress 
by always wearing a loose flannel sack and short skirt, and 
on wet days occasionally took her exercise by sawing wood. 
The good people were much astonished at her taste, but 
"supposed she had been brought up to it, and got used 
to it." 



2/ 

But, with all her exuberant fun, it was not all play even 
at Prout's. She was a benefactor to those in need; and to 
one family she was indeed guide, guardian, and friend, 
holding up by wise counsel and ready help the courage of 
the mother, a young Southern girl, sorely unfitted for the 
home to which she was brought. Her early love of 
preaching reappeared, and she was wont to gather the 
young girls about her, and read and talk with them on the 
profoundest themes. Many a noble woman now looks 
back to her as the strongest influence of her life. The 
words of Emerson, Browning, Plato, as heard from her 
lips, were never forgotten. One instance* of her keen 
satire remains in recollection. She was severe upon 
frivolity, and condemned the common waste of time in use- 
less fancy-work. In discoursing upon the "ten talents," 
she said, "You will answer the Lord, when he asks your 
account of your one talent, fc Yes, Lord, I have it safe 
wrapped in a napkin; and, Lord, I've embroidered the 
napkin.* " 

Her conversation was rich in epigrammatic sayings 
which it is a pity to lose. "A good failure is next best 
to a good success," was frequently said. She was not 
easily discouraged by failures; but she loved to take hold 
of a work vigorously and carry it on to an assured success 
rather than to plod on in one line all her life. 



28 

In 1868 Miss May assisted in the establishment of a 
Horticultural School for Women, of which she became 
president. Although it met with some favor from the 
public, and even from the Horticultural Society, yet it 
labored under many difficulties, especially, as most indus- 
trial schools do, from the want of trained teachers. It 
grew slowly; and, after about two years' life, it was aban- 
doned on account of the establishment of the Bussey 
School of Agriculture, which announced that its classes 
would be open to women. This seemed to render a new 
appeal for help, either to the legislature or the public, 
inexpedient; and the income from the small fund was for 
some time offered to students at the new institution. As 
it was not used, however, it was finally given to the Insti- 
tute of Technology for scholarships for women. Miss 
May took an active part in the management, but her chief 
interest was in the good effect which she hoped that the 
outdoor occupation in gardening would have upon the 
health of women. 

In the same year (1868) an Association for the Advance- 
ment of Women was formed in New York, of which Miss 
May soon became a director. This society holds a con- 
gress annually in different cities, at which the most impor- 
tant subjects affecting the welfare of women are discussed. 
She usually took an active part in these meetings. In the 
midst of the amplitude of skirts and length of trains, she 



2 9 

appeared on the platform in the straight skirt and simple 
sack which, with her round hat for out-of-doors, were her 
invariable dress. A smile might at first be excited by this 
quaint attire; but her commanding personality soon 
checked it, and every word of hers was listened to with 
respect and attention. She not only valued simplicity in 
dress for her own comfort, but believed that it had an 
important influence on character. She usually took her 
hat off in church to relieve her tired head. 

All this varied activity fitted Miss May for the crowning 
work of her life in connection with the public schools. I 
give the history of the movement which secured the 
appointment of women on the School Committee in the 
words of her friend and fellow-worker, Miss Lucia M. 
Peabody. 

It will be seen that here her life again unites with that 
of Miss Crocker. 

WOMEN ON SCHOOL BOARDS. 

"The Committee on Education of the New England 
Women's Club had in 1872 taken up the question of the 
best way to secure the election of women on the Board of 
School Committee in Boston. In 1873 it was decided to 
invite men and women known to be interested in this mat- 
ter to meet and form a plan for securing the election of 
women on the board this year, if possible. 



3Q 

"Miss May was a member of the committee thus formed; 
and the result of their efforts was that, at the municipal 
election in December, four women, among them Miss May 
and Miss Crocker, were elected from four different wards in 
the city. 

"The members of the School Board were at this time 
elected by wards, each ward having six representatives, of 
whom two retired each^ year. Miss May was elected in 
Ward 6, and Miss Crocker in Ward u. 

"When the ladies thus returned claimed their seats at 
the opening meeting of the board, in 1874, the legality of 
their election was disputed. The city solicitor, having 
been consulted, gave his opinion against them; and, after 
much discussion, the board finally refused to admit them, 
and declared their seats vacant. 

"The legislature, however, before the close of its session, 
enacted a law declaring women eligible to serve as mem- 
bers of School Committee; and at the municipal election, 
December, 1874, six women, Miss May and Miss Crocker 
among these, representing six different wards, were elected 
to serve for three years, beginning January, 1875. 

" Once admitted to the board as legally elected members, 
the ladies were treated with every courtesy, and were 
assigned their full share of duty, serving on various impor- 
tant committees, and having full opportunity to show their 
fitness or unfitness for the work. 



"In this year, however, an entire change was made in the 
organization of the School Board, which, under the old 
method of electing six members from each ward, had 
grown, as the city had taken in new territory and formed 
additional wards, to be an unwieldy and cumbrous body, 
unable to accomplish the necessary work. 

" By amendments adopted in the city charter, the number 
of the board was this year cut down from one hundred and 
eighteen members to twenty-five. Twenty-four of these 
were to be elected on a general ticket, and the mayor was 
ex-officio president of the board. 

"A new election was therefore held in December, 1875, 
and an entirely new board chosen, of whom the eight per- 
sons receiving the largest number of votes were elected to 
serve three years, the eight receiving the next largest num- 
ber two years, and the next eight one year. At this elec- 
tion Miss May was chosen for three years, and Miss 
Crocker for one. Two other ladies were also elected, one 
for the term of two years, and one for one year. 

"The newly constituted board had much important work 
before it; and the election of the Board of Supervisors, six 
in number, was one of the most pressing points. It was 
urgently desired by many persons, members of the board 
and others interested in the schools, that Miss Crocker 
should become one of the supervisors ; and in March, hav- 
ing first resigned her position as member of the School 



32 

Committee, she was elected to this office, which she held 
until the time of death. 

"Miss May remained upon the board till her term expired, 
in 1878, and then failed of re-election through the press- 
ure of party action and the too great confidence of her 
friends, who felt that such work as she had done must in- 
evitably secure recognition, and that no one could wish to 
put another in her place. But party pressure unfortunately 
shows little appreciation of the value of individual work; 
and her services were therefore lost to our city schools 
after this year, as she refused to become a candidate at 
subsequent elections. 

"It is not easy to tell just how much she accomplished, 
either in the schools over which she had oversight, for the 
teachers individually or collectively, or in the board 
itself, during her connection with it. She was put at once 
on various standing committees ; and, after the reorganiza- 
tion of the School Board in 1876, when important changes 
in the regulations for the schools were proposed and 
adopted, she took an active part in frraming these and 
helping to carry them into effect. Being heartily inter- 
ested in the work, she gave freely of her thought and time 
to it, thinking none of the details too insignificant to be 
worth her attention. Her visits to the school-rooms for 
which she felt a special responsibility were frequent, and, 
thanks to her good judgment and kindly sympathy, could 



33 

never fail to be helpful. Teachers who were at first bit- 
terly opposed to the innovation of putting a woman in 
this important position were won over by her wisdom and 
kindness, and before long came to look upon her as their 
best friend in school affairs. 

"Feeling the importance of forming sympathetic personal 
relations with the large body of women teachers in the 
schools, in order to understand their position, their needs, 
difficulties, and aspirations, Miss May entered heartily 
into the plan early formed of inviting them to meet the 
women members of the board for informal and friendly 
conferences. Several such meetings were held; and topics 
of much interest in school affairs were simply and frankly 
discussed, helping the members of the committee better to 
understand the work of the schools, the difficulties the 
teachers had to contend with, and the directions in which 
they could make their influence and assistance most help- 
ful, and showing the teachers that the new departure meant 
for them a supervision which tried to act heartily with them 
for the good of the schools in a purely friendly spirit. 

"Miss May continued these informal meetings with the 
groups of teachers with whom she was more immediately 
connected, in a pleasant and social way, as long as she 
remained upon the board, and found much profit in them ; 
while the teachers, as they came to know her more and 
more, fully appreciated the value of her advice, sympathy, 
and aid. 



34 

" It would take too long to speak of the various important 
measures in relation to the general management of the 
schools which came up in the board in the course of these 
years, in all of which Miss May took part. She gave 
much time and thought, first, in sub-committee meetings, 
aiding to form plans and preparing reports, and afterwards 
took much interest in the practical working of the methods 
finally adopted. 

"The experience thus gained was very valuable, and 
would have made her more and more useful, had she 
remained in this office. 

"Miss May was, I think, one of the first to try to 
induce the girls in high schools to dress simply on gradua- 
tion day. Partly, at least, through her efforts, elaborate 
and expensive dressing received a check, which has not, 
perhaps, yet ceased to be effective. Certainly, for some 
years, greater simplicity was practised, thus saving the 
poor girls a painful comparison with those who were 
wealthy, or freeing them from the temptation of spending 
more than they could afford." 

Circulars on this subject, of which she wrote one, were 
sent out for three successive years. 

The failure to re-elect Miss May was the immediate 
cause of the movement to secure school suffrage for 
women, and of the formation of the Massachusetts School 
Suffrage Association. As this society has lately pub- 



35 

lished a history of its origin and its work, I shall quote 
very briefly from this account prepared by its careful secre- 
tary, referring to it for fuller details : — 

"The school suffrage movement in Massachusetts arose 
from the failure to secure the re-election of Miss Abby W. 
May on the School Board of Boston. Judge Russell, who 
was much interested in the matter, declared that two thou- 
sand women voters were needed in the city fc to save the 
schools,' since the School Committee had become so 
largely a stepping-stone to political preferment. A peti- 
tion was sent to the legislature, asking for the extension of 
school suffrage to women; and a hearing was granted, at 
which many old citizens were present, some of whom were 
not in favor of general suffrage. The result was that on 
the ioth of April, 1879, a bill enabling women to vote for 
School Committee was passed by the legislature of Massa- 
chusett, — 129 ayes to 69 noes. 

"On the 15th of November following a meeting of 
women voters of Boston passed the following resolutions 
at Freeman Place Chapel : — 

" Whereas it is recognized by all good citizens that the schools 
are the most important of our institutions, since in them are 
trained morally and intellectually our youth, who are to become 
the citizens on whom depends, for good or for ill, the future of 
our republic, therefore, — 
[2] 



36 

" Resolved, That we earnestly request our fellow-citizens of all 
political parties to bring forward as candidates for the School 
Committee only persons known to be of high moral character 
and of good education, with time and spirit for the public 
service. And 

" Whereas we believe that the presence of women on our 
School Committee is both desirable and needful for the best 
good of our schools, therefore, — 

"Resolved, That we ask the men of all political parties, in 
making up their tickets for the next election, to put upon them 
the names of two or three women as candidates for the School 
Committee. 

"This meeting was the cradle of the Massachusetts 
School Suffrage Association, and the above resolutions 
seem to contain in a nutshell the future policy of the 
organization. 

"Three days later a so-called Committee of Conference of 
the women voters of Boston met at No. 5 Park Street, and 
organized with Miss Abby W. May as chairman, and Mrs. 
Emily Talbot secretary. So vigorous was this little body 
in its early days that between this date of November 18 
and December 8 no less than eight committee meetings 
were held, besides one general meeting of women voters, 
in preparation for the election of December 9. A 
woman's ticket was prepared, and three women nominated 
on it. A conference was held with the Nominating Com- 



37 

mittee of the Republican party, the other parties having 
refused the desired conference. That first year 894 
women voted in Boston. 

"At a meeting: of women voters on December 6 it was 
voted to constitute the Conference Committee of twelve a 
permanent committee to take charge of school suffrage in 
both city and State, and to invite those women to join this 
committee who had signed the letter of the previous May, 
urging women to vote. 

"At the last meeting of this Conference Committee, 
on December 30, Miss May gave an important report on 
the subject of 'School Suffrage for Women,' speaking in 
detail of the recent election in all its aspects, and claim- 
ing that the result, although at first sight a failure, was 
really a long step toward success in several ways. She 
mentions three: — 

"'First, it proved that there are in Boston, and ready 
to serve on schools, women whose high character, whose 
intelligence, and whose faithfulness to duty are known to 
be so great that they are recognized as worthy to be hon- 
ored with the high responsibility, and are sure to meet it 
well. 

"'Second, it shows that the political parties of the city 
are willing to nominate women as members of the School 
Board. 

"'Third, there was proof that the determination of the 



38 

women to vote for good candidates only had its effect on 
the nominations of the political parties. It is now possi- 
ble to anticipate that the days of mere office-seeking are 
near an end, so far as the School Board is concerned.' . . . 
" In accordance with a vote of women voters at a meeting 
of Jan. 13, 1880, a committee of five was appointed to 
draw up a constitution, which was adopted on January 27. 
Thus the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association was 
formally organized, and a board of officers chosen, with 
Miss May as president, Mrs. Cheney vice-president, Miss 
Rogers secretary, Mrs. Whitman treasurer, and seven 
directors. . . . 

"At the second annual meeting, in January, 1881, a 
set of resolutions was adopted, whose aim was to increase 
the efficiency of the Association. Lecturers were again 
sent out during the year to arouse interest in the smaller 
towns of the State. Miss May's admirable little pam- 
phlet, c What can we do by our Votes for the Good of 
the Schools?' was published in June, and widely circu- 
lated." 

The hearing at the State House was noteworthy. It was 
attended by leading men of the Commonwealth not hereto- 
fore identified with the suffrage movement, such as Rev. 
Andrew P. Peabody and Hon. William Gray. The new 
law was passed almost without opposition, to the surprise 
of its friends, and even of Miss May herself. She was 



39 

from the beginning the life of the Association, taking a 
leading part not only in its regular business, but in all the 
excited discussions which grew out of the different views 
of those interested in the work, on matters of temperance, 
legislation, and the opposition to the influence of Catholi- 
cism in the schools. 

She always stood firmly for the entire independence of 
State and schools from ecclesiastical control of any kind, 
but for entire fairness toward all classes and sects whose 
interests were involved in the schools. 

More than any one she bore the brunt of the opposition 
aroused against the Association on these questions; but 
she bore it bravely and hopefully, in dignified self-control. 

On one occasion the directors seriously considered the 
advisability of giving up the Association, since its work 
seemed almost nullified by the whirl of excitement which 
swept around it. Every one present voted to abandon the 
work; but, when Miss May (who was in the chair) calmly 
and strongly expressed her view of the importance of the 
position of the Association and the work that lay yet 
before it, she convinced the whole board, who unanimously 
reconsidered their action, and determined to go on with 
renewed zeal and courage. 

Soon after this time Miss May's health became seri- 
ously impaired; and in 1888 she felt obliged to send the 
following letter to the board. The Association, however, 



40 

refused to accept her resignation, preferring to keep her 
name at their head, even if she could no longer do their 
work; and she remained nominally president until the 
time of her death. 

"3 Exeter Street, Boston, Jan. 2, 1888. 

"Dear Tina, — Your notification for to-morrow's meet- 
ing suggests that at that time arrangements will be made 
for the annual meeting; and I write to say that it seems 
quite certain that I shall not be able to do anything for the 
Association this year, and consequently I want my name 
left off the list of officers. It may already be arranged for 
by others, to whom it must have seemed useless to have 
this particular bit of unserviceable timber taking a place 
on the board. But, if others wait for me to take the first 
step, here it is. 

"Please see to it, when the time comes, that I am 
wholly left off. 

"Always sincerely yours, 

"A. W. May." 

A teacher writes : — 

"Miss May, at meetings of the Ward and City Commit- 
tee, never wasted time, was prompt, and, though often in 
the early part of the discussion of a question in the minor- 
ity, yet she kept to the point, and was apt to carry it. 



41 

"As a member of the School Committee, she seemed to 
think it her duty to assist the teacher to the pupil's point 
of view of a subject. She was a clear-headed, noble- 
hearted, broad-minded woman, a great loss to Boston." 

As soon as it was known that Miss May had failed of 
re-election on the School Board, the State hastened to 
secure her services in a larger field; and in 1879 Governor 
Talbot appointed her a member of the Board of Education. 
No position could have been more congenial to her, and 
she frankly expressed her pleasure in accepting it. 

She was especially interested in the work of supervising 
the Normal Schools ; for here she felt that she was work- 
ing at the very source of good influence. Whatever was 
done for these young teachers was to spread widely through 
the community. She always held the teachers' office as 
very sacred, and this feeling gave her great power in 
understanding them. The principal of one of the large 
grammar schools once said to me that he had "found more 
sympathy from her than from all the members of the 
School Committee that he had ever known." 

The Normal School at Framingham was her special 
charge, and she is gratefully and lovingly remembered 
there. "I was of the last class to whom she gave 
diplomas," said one teacher, with pride. 

The large building is appropriately named "May Hall"; 
and her portrait by her friend, Mrs. Whitman, which hangs 



42 

in the building, is a perpetual reminder of her interest in 
the school. 

Neither did Miss May neglect the interests of advanced 
scholarship, as the following account of her work for the 
pupils of Boston University will show. She did full jus- 
tice to the value of intellectual culture as broadening life 
and helping religious and moral development. 

"In November, 1876, a group of women met to consider 
in what ways they could lend most effective aid to the 
general effort for the advancement of women, and after 
deliberation organized themselves into an association 
which pledged itself to increase the educational advantages 
offered to women, and to assist young women during their 
collegiate or post-collegiate courses of study. The perma- 
nent organization of the society was completed in April, 
1877, when it received its charter from the State under the 
name of k The Massachusetts Society for the University 
Education of Women.' 

"Its membership has steadily increased until it now 
numbers over three hundred ; and during all these years 
it has been fulfilling, in a quiet, unpretentious way, the 
purpose of its existence, aiding many students by counsel 
and sympathy as well as financial assistance. 

"Miss May joined the society Jan. 18, 1880. Jan. 15, 
1 88 1, Miss May and Miss Crocker addressed the annual 
meeting, Miss May speaking on 'The Normal Schools of 



43 

the State,' and urging more extended supervision of 
schools throughout the Commonwealth. 

"On Jan. 4, 1884, she was elected president of the 
society, and held this office until Oct. 23, 1886, when her 
resignation on account of ill health was reluctantly 
accepted. 

"Her good judgment, her wise counsel, her devotion to 
every cause of truth and justice, can never be forgotten by 
those who were privileged to work on the Executive Board 
of the society under her guidance. The society is her 
grateful debtor, and the influence of her kindly presence 
still remains." 

With all this work for her own State, Miss May did not 
forget her old clients, the colored people, who had lately 
become American citizens; and, both by generous gifts of 
money and by personal correspondence with teachers and 
pupils, she was a constant friend and helper to these 
schools, especially to those which introduced industrial 
teaching. She was one of the first donors to the Normal 
and Agricultural Institute at Hampton, Va. Miss Emily 
Austin was warmly helped by her in her valuable work at 
Knoxville, Tenn. ; and, when Miss Austin was obliged to 
leave her work there and went to Hampton to establish a 
home for girls under General Armstrong's supervision, she 
appropriately named it "The Abby May Home." 

She took also a deep interest in the University of At- 



44 

lanta, Georgia, and especially in the noble Normal and 
Industrial Institute founded by Mr. Booker T. Washington 
at Tuskegee, Ala. She counted both Mr. and Mrs. Wash- 
ington among her personal friends, and a few extracts from 
her letters will show the constant and wise sympathy 
which she gave them in their work. 

In 1859 ner father and mother celebrated their golden 
wedding, an event of great interest to her. Her father 
died in 1870, and in the following autumn she took charge 
of the family remaining in the home. She bought a house 
in Exeter Street, and devoted herself to making a home for 
her mother in her old age. Her young niece was also 
with her. 

Her mother's death in 1882 took from her life its deep- 
est affectional interest; and, fully as she was prepared for 
its peaceful close, — for her mother had reached the same 
great age that her father did, — yet the color of her life 
was changed. As she says in a letter: — 

"I did not even say 'Thank you ' then, for I could not 
write. I could not do anything without such effort that I 
hardly tried at all. I sat down in mother's parlor in the 
place where she had sat so long, and just let the sun shine 
on me; and I did not care to do aught else. Few things 
have seemed worth doing since then as they did before. 
But your sympathy and your word of appreciation of her 
were very welcome." 



45 

She often says to a friend, "Knowing that to see you 
would be like a sea-breeze on a sultry day." 

The remaining years were spent in work for the various 
causes in which she had always taken so much interest, 
her duties in connection with the Board of Education 
always taking the prominent place; but they were deeply 
shaded by a chronic state of invalidism, with frequent 
attacks of illness of greater severity. When she rallied 
from these, she spoke and acted with much of her old vigor. 

She did not seem unusually feeble in the summer of 
1888, which she spent at her old resting-place at Prout's 
Neck; but early in September she had a violent attack of 
illness. By her own earnest desire she was brought to the 
Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital in Boston, where 
she remained until the end came, Nov. 30, 1888. The 
funeral services were held at the Church of the Disciples, 
and the worn-out frame was laid beside her father and 
mother at the beautiful cemetery of Forest Hills. Accord- 
ing to her wishes, the funeral services at the Church of 
the Disciples were simple, but soothing and elevating. 
As the venerable form of her dear friend and relative flitted 
among the flowers, touching them with reverent hand, we 
felt almost as if she were an angel brightening the way for 
her through the dark valley. The Scripture readings by 
Mr. Eliot were strengthening and comforting; and her old 
friend, Mr. Frothingham, in his prayer lifted us into the 



4 6 

one thought of the sustaining power of God which can help 
us to bear the separations of life. We will not say, 
"Rest in peace," for it was not rest she longed for; but, 
"Go on to life more full, more glorious, more noble, even, 
than that given to thee here! " 

"Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail 
Or knock the breast ; no weakness, no contempt, 
Dispraise or blame ; nothing but well and fair, 
And what may quiet us in a death so noble. 

"Thither shall all the valiant youth resort, 
And from his memory inflame their breasts 
To matchless valor, and adventures high." 



SELECTIONS FROM NOTICES. 

"Miss May was great, not by brilliancy of imagination 
or any one remarkable talent, but by the admirable balance 
of her mental powers, by her strong, powerful intellect, 
her clear judgment, her excellent wit, her accurate mem- 
ory, her practical sagacity, her thoroughness in execution. 
To these intellectual traits must be added a moral sound- 
ness, a constant uprightness, a stern integrity, which gave 
all who knew her a perfect trust in her. 'I am as safe 
with her as with my God,' said one to whom she was 



47 

appointed guardian. These strong traits were the underly- 
ing basis of her character, and gave to her that impressive 
presence which always made its mark upon all who knew 
her. Her heart was as generous and warm as her brain 
was large and comprehensive. 

"Her power of sympathy was one of her strongest and 
dearest traits. She had the rare power of entering into 
the hearts of others, and helping at just the point where 
help was needed. It was impossible that, with such 
strength of will and earnestness of soul, she should not 
at times be brusque in manner and appear imperious; but 
this was only superficial. She was always full of defer- 
ence to the feelings of others, even of those from whom 
she differed. Added to these noble qualities was the 
warm religious sentiment which lighted and filled all her 
life with a flame of joy and beauty. Educated in the most 
liberal Christian faith, she knew little of the terrors of the 
law or the fear of God ; but her heart was warm with his 
holy presence, and her hope was strong through faith in 
his ever-present help. 

"Miss May was tall and stately in person; and, although 
not regularly handsome, her face had great beauty of 
expression, her mouth being especially expressive and 
beautiful. Perhaps the rare union of strength and tender- 
ness, of earnestness and humor, in her character, was most 
fully expressed by the exquisite quality of her voice. It 



4 8 

was strong, deep, clear, giving you a full impression of 
trust in her sincerity, and also mellow and sweet. It did 
not become harsh when she was roused to excitement, but 
only deeper and stiller: it never broke into shrillness or 
sharpness. It was a power in itself, and helped to make 
her simplest words effective and well remembered." 

One of her able coadjutors has prepared the following 
account of the formation of an association in which Miss 
May took a deep, active interest : — 

"The National Conference of Unitarian and Other 
Christian Churches held in Saratoga, in 1878, more than 
usually brilliant and enthusiastic sessions, at which the 
women were most interested listeners; and, at a spontane- 
ous and unpremeditated meeting of those present, it was 
agreed that an appeal should be made to all the women of 
the Unitarian churches to join in carrying out the work 
recommended by the Conference. The appeal was based 
on the unutilized power possessed by liberal women, 
which might do much to encourage and sustain the general 
work of the denomination, and the practical value of such 
sympathy and help. 

"This appeal created a most earnest and universal desire 
that the women might take an active part in the work of 
the National Conference and do something toward stimu- 
lating denominational faith and spreading abroad a knowl- 
edge of distinctively liberal views. 



49 

"As a natural result of these aspirations, the women 
banded together under a few wise and able leaders; and, 
as the work was auxiliary to the National Conference, 
so the movement, when organized in 1880, became the 
Women's Auxiliary Conference. 

"Miss May was among the earliest and most earnest of 
the promoters of the Auxiliary Conference, and was its 
first president, serving continuously for six years, resign- 
ing in September, 1886, on account of failing health. 

"Those who were associated with Miss May during these 
six years will never forget the intense and absorbing inter- 
est manifested by her in the matters presented to the Con- 
ference, and it would be hard to convince them that any 
other cause was quite as dear to her heart. When she was 
elected president, and some one expressed surprise, say- 
ing: 'Why, Miss May, I didn't think you cared for such 
things. I knew you were interested in the freedmen and 
in suffrage, and, of course, in education; but I never 
thought of you in connection with religious matters,' Miss 
May replied in an impressive tone: 'Ah, is it so? Then 
it is quite time that I showed my colors!' 

"No one could attend the board meetings, at which Miss 
May so regularly presided, without being impressed with 
her sweet and serious dignity and the important place 
given by her to the purely religious work of the Confer- 
ence. Those who month after month climbed two flights 



50 

of stairs to the shabby room in Tremont Place always went 
away rested by the comforting words and cheered by the 
high ideals presented to their consideration. Always 
earnest and always keeping well to the subject in hand, 
there was manifest at the Conference meetings a depth of 
purpose and a sincerity of feeling which was often serious 
to solemnity. 

"During the two years after Miss May retired from 
active participation in the affairs of the Conference her 
wise and judicious counsels were still sought and relied 
upon; and her interest, always instantly shown, was a 
constant encouragement and inspiration. Her address at 
the meeting at Saratoga, 1884, was published by the 
Alliance. 

"The date of what, I think, was the last public effort of 
Miss May was April 4, 1888. She looked and appeared 
well, but expressed herself as 4 out of such things.' She 
regretted very much that she had not a written paper; but, 
when she began to speak, no one else was sorry. She 
began by saying what the women of the denomination were 
trying to do, and then enlarged upon what the young men, 
especially the young men of the Channing Club, might do. 
No one present can have forgotten, I am sure, the fervent, 
earnest spirit of her address; and at its close there was 
not applause, but an expression of thanks by the president. 
I know Miss May made a strong impression upon the 
young men present. 



5i 

"In April, 1890, the Conference placed on its walls in 
the new building on Beacon Street a most satisfactory por- 
trait, painted by E. T. Billings. A photograph copy of 
this was also given to each Branch Auxiliary, to be hung 
in the different church parlors or vestry-rooms." 

"Yours truly, 

"Emily A. Fifield." 

Her successor as president of the Alliance adds her tes- 
timony to the same effect : — 

"Scarcely more than a decade has passed since the 
women of the Unitarian churches became keenly alive to 
the fact that among them, alone of all denominations, 
there was neither a missionary nor religious organization 
in which they were united. But no sooner was this real- 
ized than thought became action, and the Women's Aux- 
iliary Conference was formed for missionary work and 
religious study; and Abby W. May was wisely chosen its 
president. 

"She entered upon her duties with the noble purpose 
and zeal which characterized all her undertakings, and 
with a reverence and liberality that deepened and broad- 
ened as the work grew dearer and more dear to heart, until 
it stood second to none. 

" She early recognized and deplored the seeming lack of 
W 



52 

spiritual force that so closely united the women of other 
churches in similar work. The force was indeed with us, 
but latent, needing only an inspired and inspiring leader to 
bring it into action, and make it a power for spiritual good. 

"In Miss May such a leader was found, who in the days 
of the greatest discouragements could see, with a prophetic 
eye, the blessed results that have followed. She was a 
deep thinker, an eloquent and wise speaker, a faithful 
worker. By her oftentimes impassioned utterances con- 
cerning divine truths, by her earnest appeals to the relig- 
ious nature, by her tender entreaties and wise, loving 
counsels, Miss May kindled the hearts of her associates, 
and filled them with love and reverence for one who 
thought more of the spirit than the letter, who lived as she 
spoke, who contemned illiberality, approving all sugges- 
tions of broadening work and life, and welcoming one and 
all who wished to work with us. At the end of six years, 
when the sad day came in which the Conference was 
deprived of the guiding hand of its devoted leader, that 
hand had already made an impress upon the work which is 
felt to-day in the newly and more broadly organized body, 
and which can never be effaced. 

"God bless her memory! May it ever remain green in 
our hearts ! 

"Judith W. Andrews." 



53 



PORTRAITS. 

Miss May gave the portrait-painter a difficult task, for 
the expression of character was far beyond the physical 
beauty. The photographs do not fully reveal her mind. 
I think the best is one by Notman. A crayon head by 
Rowse gives the seriousness without the life and fun in 
her face. Mrs. Whitman painted two, one of which she 
presented to the New England Women's Club, and the 
other was given to the Normal School at Framingham by 
her and by Miss May's immediate family. The one at the 
club is the richer picture, but the one at the school has a 
fine expression of tenderness which suits her relation to 
teachers. Her friend, Miss Bartol, also made a crayon 
portrait of her; and there is a painting in the Unitarian 
Building by Mr. Billings. 

She will live in the hearts of the generation who knew 
her; and, if her name be not written on the roll of Fame, 
her work will go on with the impulse which she gave to it. 

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 

These few words from a note to a friend, to whom she 
was ever a good providence, are too characteristic to be 



54 

lost, as showing both her wise prudence in practical affairs 
and her constant regard to the uplifting of life by high 
influences and motives : — 



"3 Exeter Street, Jan. 12, 1888. 

"While speaking of it, let me say, if I were you, I 

think I would not put $1,000 into any one thing. There 

are good things to be got for $500. Thus you diminish 

your risk ! Thank you for what you say about reading the 

prayers (Parker's). Let me add that, if you try them and 

do not find them helpful to you, positively not to read 

them because I sent them. Maybe they do not suit you: 

in that case, pass them on. Will you turn to the last 

blank page, and write this succession of numbers [about 

thirty-seven]? This gives the order by months. He was 

such a dear lover of nature (as well as of human nature) 

that it adds much to the beauty and power of the prayers 

to read them in their appropriate seasons. I try to read 

one each Sunday on the date nearest. No more to-day, 

but affectionate good wishes for the New Year and for 

always. 

"Yours, a. w. m." 

" I had the heart, but not the body, to go to Jamaica 
Plain and see you before you left. But for two weeks I 
was really ill, more so than I had been for long, and could 



55 

only do a part of the most necessary things. I had Dr. 
Wesselhoeft several times; and he set me on my feet, so 
that I went the last day of June to Watkins, N.Y. It was 
at the time of Cousin Samuel's death;* and I went to his 
funeral, an ever-memorable occasion. I do not believe it 
is often the case that so holy and beautiful an experience 
is allowed to mortals. It seemed the fitting close to such 
an earthly life as his." 

" Prout's Neck. 
"The one thing that most impressed me about your 
letter . . . was the sense of weariness which the letter 
brings, spite of all the life in it. . . . Of course 
there is but one conclusion possible for me; and that 
is, that you, like the most of the brave and able women 
of the day, are overworked, and need the rest that comes 
through getting through one phase, laying by its care, 
and making a pause before taking up the next thing to be 
done. How I wish you could take such a rest! Such a 
vacation as children have, who lay aside everything and 
just disport themselves in the sunshine! I wish I had a 
word of help or strength to send you out of this peaceful, 
resting life. I ought to be able to help somebody from it 
all. ... I can and will try to keep your loving favor 
going round k by doing something of the same sort for 
somebody, when I may have the chance.' Meantime, may 

♦Samuel J. May, who died at Syracuse, July i, 1871. 



56 

not a letter from this good old place carry something of its 
flavor perforce, and rest you for a moment in its memories? 
... I am finishing this after such a delicious afternoon 
on the rocks! Everything is sweet and delicious after 
yesterday's rain. The tiger lilies flaunt their gay colors 
in all directions, the roses are finer than I ever saw them, 
their color is deep and rich, and the air, — well, you know 
what it is; and nothing but knowing for one's self tells 
the story of it. So good-night! " 

"On Monday, if all's well, mother comes home. She 
is more feeble than in the spring, having had one very 
serious illness this summer; but she is bright, and will, 
I hope, enjoy a good deal this winter, as we shall, indeed, 
in having her safely back with us again. But it is needful 
that I should be much at home with her; and I like the 
thought of being able to stay without feeling that I am 
neglecting anything into which T had entered. I could 
never work on the School Committee as I did, in point of 
time and effort. Perhaps I might accomplish more. . . . 
I want to go to the Congress at Madison. I shall, if all's 
well, when the time comes. I have enjoyed the meetings 
in the past four years, and don't want to lose the run of 
them and the knowledge of those who go to them." 

From a retreat at Florence, Mass., Sept. 5, 1864, she 
writes : — 



57 

"My life for the last two years has been a most fortu- 
nate and happy one in almost every respect. But I quarrel 
with it on one account, which is that I have hardly seen 
anything of my old friends. Very dear they were to me, 
and so helpful. Very dear they still are. But I have 
been cut off from their help, which, I know, they would 
generously have given if I had been ready to take it. But 
what can I do about it? Write one of them a bit of a 
letter to-day, just to make sure, if not too late already, 
that my claim is not outlawed. . . . The winter looks in 
prospect as if it would be pretty hard. Certainly, the 
war does not grow an old story to us or lose any of its 
exciting, wearing characteristics. I do not see how it 
can last much longer; but I have been sanguine all along, 
and sometimes I think I ought to take counsel of others' 
fears rather than my own hopes. 

"But how good to hear again that word 'peace ' uttered, 
as it must be from no hollow foundations, but founded 
deep in realities that can never, let us believe, be shaken 
down! 

"Then, too, next winter I am to take the housekeeping 
cares. I have long thought perhaps I ought to do this; 
but it has not been quite clear that it would be best, and 
mother has not cared about it. But now it is clear. She 
is much broken, and everything is an anxiety to her. So 
I mean to close up some of my outside work, and be more 



58 

at and do more for home. I do not love household cares. 
I do not love to be shut up in the house. But, while I 
am fortunate enough to have one, I ought to be, and 
believe I am, willing to make some small sacrifice for it. 
With alL this, don't you see how I shall be a real object 
of charity, and won't you put me on your 'list of chari- 
ties,' and look after me a little? 

"I am glad that it is not my special temptation to think 
of a future that is always an uncertainty. The feeblest of 
us all may outlive the strongest, and the only safety lies 
in remembering that, whatever comes, we are in the best of 
care. Thinking of this life and the next as one is the 
happiest way to look at both or at either." 



" Prout's, August 25. 

"I thought of you when the Advertiser brought the news 

of 's death, with a hope that you were there at the 

last moments. ... I know every such experience is but 
one link in a great chain to you, and I think of you with 
loving and reverent sympathy. . . . How easy the way to 
go is made for those who, having long, rich lives closely 
bound to so many other lives, find themselves more than 
half in the great eternal existence even here ! " 

"I trust next winter will be somewhat less busy than 



59 

the last. I like to be well worked, but not much over- 
worked, as then." 

"A poem of Wasson's 'greater than any other of his' 
will be welcomed, indeed; and to work over and prepare 
them, as you are doing, is an enviable piece of work." 

" I have been here a week, and am better for this air. 
. . . One day was ideal, and I felt quite like a (very 
diminutive) giant!" 



"3 Exeter Street, Sept, 28, 1879. 

" Your good words are very welcome, and I thank you 
heartily. I sympathize with you in being glad that an- 
other place of usefulness has been opened to women in old 
Massachusetts. That is the abstract view of it. Practi- 
cally, I am much pleased to have the choice fall upon me. 
I feel reasonably sure that I shall enjoy the work. I wish 
I thought I were large enough to fill the place. You 
speak about the organization to help the new voting law to 
go into effect as inadequate. Is it too late now to do 
something by way of rousing the tax-paying to the duty of 
registering? I confess that, with a week of house-clean- 
ing behind me and Congress in Madison and much other 
work ahead, I do not feel much like undertaking anything 



6o 

more. But there ought to be a good many women ready- 
to lend a hand, and I have all along looked forward to an 
effort in this direction for this autumn. Do think about 
what may be done in this way." 

A few extracts from letters to Mr. Washington and Miss 
Davidson will show her long and steady interest in his 
work at Tuskesree : — 



"3 Exeter Street, Boston, Jan. 9, 1882. 

" Dear Miss Davidson, — I thank you for your pleasant 
letter, and for the invitation it brings. 

"It is quite in the line of what I like to do, — this 
thing that you ask of me; but I fear I ought not to under- 
take it. Perhaps you will think 1 am right in this feel- 
ing, when I tell you that I am so busy that I could not 
give time to your school, and could not beg money. I 
suppose you would want both time and money of me, and 
you certainly would have a right to expect both from any 
one who undertook to be a trustee. Having said all this, 
I leave the matter in your hands. 

"The two notices of the school in the Workman are 
very interesting. It looks as if an admirable beginning 
had been made, and I am quite willing to believe that the 
teachers who have undertaken the work will follow it up to 



6i 

a thorough success. I congratulate you all on the begin- 
ning, and wish you a continuance of your zeal and courage, 
sure that they will win victory all the way along, in spite 
of many obstacles which will be sure to be found. I still 
make my pleasant visits at Framingham. It is a delight- 
ful duty and a great pleasure to go there. 

"Miss Hyde, I am sorry to say, does not seem as much 
better in health as I hoped she would after her visit in 
England; but I believe she works too devotedly to be 
really well. She does not throw off her cares for a 
moment in the twenty-four hours. This, you know, is 
ruinous. I hope you are playi?ig as well as working hard. 
The two go wonderfully well together. 

"With thanks to you all for your invitation, and to you 
for your good letter, 

" I am sincerely yours, 

"Abby W. May." 



"Jan. 18, 1884. 

''''Dear Miss Davidson, — Your letter makes me very 
sorry for you. I had hoped that you were getting on faster 
toward health than is the case. I trust that you are doing 
the right thing for yourself now, and that, when you really 
begin to feel like yourself again, you will have wise ad- 
visers to keep you back from all work until you are quite 



62 

fit for it; and, when you begin, I hope you will be so wise 
for yourself that you will begin gradually, and only in- 
crease the amount as you feel able to do so. 

"You have many friends here who sympathize with you, 
and who would like to help in your efforts for patience and 
courage. You see we believe in you and in the Tuskegee 
work, and in your fitness to aid it. So you must try to 
believe that you are gaining some deep experiences now 
that will make your work larger and richer when you take 
it up again. Philosophy and religion are pretty hard to 
live up to in such trying circumstances; but they are the 
best help, after all." 

" May 6, 1885. 

"My dear Mr. Washington, — Your letter of May 2 is 
just now received; and I thank you for it, and for giving 
me the opportunity to make suggestions to be presented to 
my fellow-trustees at the coining meeting. I wish it were 
possible for me to be present and confer with you all in 
reference to the interests of the school. But it will not be 
possible; and neither is it practicable for me to aid you 
with any suggestions. If I could visit the school and 
learn in that way of its methods and their results, perhaps 
I could make useful suggestions. As it is, I am ignorant 
of all to be of service, and you must take the will for the 
deed. I hope the meeting will be fruitful for good. I am 



63 

sure your school, like all schools, must present many prob- 
lems not easily solved, must have its places and times for 
doubt, and not seldom for discouragement. But, in the 
main, I rejoice with you that your story is of hopefulness 
and promise, as well as of very creditable successes. . . . 
" I have also to thank you for a letter received in March, 
bringing the good word of marked improvement in real 
manhood and womanhood in the seniors. To be able to 
say such a thing is the best of success, and your great and 
abiding reward. I congratulate you and all your assistants 
that such is the result of your efforts." 



"Jan. 9, 1886. 

" My dear Mr. Washington, — I have been this evening 
reading the report of your school with much interest. 
How wonderfully it has been blessed with help and sup- 
port from so many outside friends, and with faithful, 
devoted service from those immediately concerned in its 
management! Truly, all who believe in it have great 
cause to thank God for his loving-kindness in the past, and 
to trust that such efforts as are made for the school will be 
blessed to it in the future. 

"I hope that all teachers and scholars are well, and that 
Miss Davidson is keeping her good resolutions of prudence 
in work. 



6 4 

"I send the amount promised to Miss Davidson by- 
cheque enclosed. 

"With my best wishes for a Happy New Year to each 
and all, 

" I am sincerely yours, 

"Abby W. May." 



" Boston, May 24, 1886. 

"My dear Mr. Washington, — Your letter is just now 
received, and I thank you for it. I presume there is not 
time for a reply to reach you before a meeting of the trus- 
tees, but I think I have no suggestions to make for the 
action of the board. I wish I could be at your closing 
exercises and at the meeting, as I am sure you know; but 
it is not possible. The same sickness that prevented me 
from seeing you when you were in town has lasted ever 
since, quite disabling me. Whenever there is anything 
you think I could do for the school, you must tell me. I 
am sure you know it will be a pleasure to me to help you 
whenever I can. 

"Please give my sincere regard to Miss Davidson. I 
hope you will all have a good vacation, and gather a fund 
of strength for the important work of another year. 
" I am most sincerely yours, 

"A. W. May {per m. e. b.)." 



6 5 
On July 5 Miss May wrote in her own hand, saying: — 

" I get well but very slowly, and am not able to use my 
head and eyes for much writing, so I must bring this to 
an end. Sending you my sincere regard, with my best 
wishes, 

"Yours ever faithfully, 

"Abby W. May." 



